Ealing Council faces scrutiny over HMO licensing and anti-social behaviour
Ealing Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee has reviewed the effectiveness of its Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing and its approach to tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) linked to these properties.
The committee heard that Ealing currently has 4,101 licensed HMOs, with a predicted 340 additional unlicensed properties. Data presented revealed a significant number of hazards identified in inspections, with fire safety being the most prevalent issue. The council's licensing team has identified 4,890 hazards across known HMOs, with a failure rate of 64.7% for mandatory HMOs and 72.2% for additional HMOs. Fire was identified as the top hazard type, accounting for 73% of all hazards recorded at known HMOs between April 2021 and April 2026.
Charlotte Ward, Head of Private Sector Housing, highlighted that the council's additional HMO licensing scheme, which covers smaller HMOs, is due to expire in March 2027. A consultation on renewing this scheme has closed, with a decision expected in December. She emphasised that licensing is crucial for protecting tenants' health, safety, and welfare, and also for addressing neighbourhood impacts such as noise, waste, and ASB.
Alex Jackson, Head of Development Management, explained that planning controls, including Article 4 Directions implemented across most of the borough, require planning permission for changes of use to smaller HMOs. Since these directions came into effect, a higher proportion of HMO planning applications have been refused, often due to quality and layout issues.
Councillors raised concerns about the number of ASB incidents linked to HMOs, with 3,649 incidents recorded at known HMOs between April 2021 and April 2026. Waste ASB was particularly prevalent, with 2,004 incidents recorded.
Beyond waste and noise, serious ASB incidents are also linked to HMOs. Between April 2021 and April 2026, 371 serious ASB incidents were recorded at known HMO dwellings. The council has recruited three Licensed Property ASB Officers and two Licensed Property Envirocrime/Waste Management Officers to tackle these issues. These officers bring subject-specific expertise and enforcement powers, and strategies include warning letters, Community Protection interventions, closure activity, civil penalties, and licence refusals.
The council's approach to managing HMOs involves joint working between planning, property licensing, enforcement, community safety, and waste services to share intelligence and coordinate action. Specialist officers have been recruited to tackle ASB and waste management issues specifically within licensed properties.
Concerns were also raised about the council's capacity to inspect all HMOs and the impact of HMOs on housing supply and the council's homelessness strategy. While the council does not directly place individuals in HMOs, the Housing Options team may signpost those at risk of homelessness to HMO providers. The proposed renewal of the additional HMO licensing scheme from April 2027 aims to maintain standards, tackle poor management, and improve the quality of HMOs across the borough. However, there is a potential for a reduction in HMO supply if landlords choose to relocate investments to neighbouring boroughs due to the proposed licensing scheme. This could lead to existing HMO tenants being displaced, creating housing instability and pressure on the council's homelessness prevention team, and potentially pushing up rental prices due to increased demand on a smaller supply. It is noted, however, that bordering boroughs also operate additional HMO licensing schemes, and that the proposed fee for a 4-person HMO is modest.
The meeting information does not detail typical remediation timelines or associated costs for fire safety issues, nor does it provide specific success rates of enforcement actions or typical penalties imposed on landlords.
Further details on the council's work and reports can be found in the Public reports pack for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.