A council says it’s going to renew a clampdown on landlords after a Supreme Court ruling in its favour.

Luton council faced a legal challenge initiated by landlords over its controversial licensing system for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).

Only 20% of the estimated 4,500 HMOs in Luton are large premises, meeting the criteria for the mandatory national licensing regime.

But the battle began some nine years ago when the council sought to introduce licences for smaller HMOs – meaning every single HMO owner would have to buy a licence. 

However, the landlords’ case has been dismissed by the Supreme Court because it was deemed not to “raise an arguable point of law”.

Now the council is on the front foot.

Alia Khan, the Labour council’s portfolio holder for housing, tells the BBC: “The reason behind it ultimately is to protect tenants and to protect everyone’s right to have a safe and secure home.

“We know that good landlords have nothing to worry about, but the main thing is that this gives us power to enact enforcement when landlords aren’t complying.”

But Raj Bains – from the Luton Landlords and Letting Agents group which led the legal challenge – says everything is loaded against landlords.

“It’s like [the council] will be looking at ways to penalise landlords, looking for flaws in their properties to be able to fine them. Everything is loaded against the landlord.”

He tells the BBC that the proposed fines of £500 or more will lead to a landlord exodus. 

“Already we’ve noticed there are a number of landlords who are now looking to sell their properties” he comments.

“The number of properties in the rental market will then decrease and this is going to have the adverse effect of increasing rents.”