The Act runs to more than 300 pages and even the consultation paper on the secondary legislation needed to flesh out the Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) section ran to 125 pages.

It is undoubtedly the letting out of HMOs – properties tenanted by people who share amenities - which will place the biggest burden on landlords, writes Rosalind Renshaw.

It sounds well-meaning enough, introducing a licensing regime which will ensure fire and safety standards as well as minimum amenities. But opponents say the legislation could prove so heavy-handed and bureaucratic that many landlords will no longer want to stay in the sector.

The concern is that landlords might be required to upgrade properties to the full safety standards of a student hostel, which would be prohibitively expensive. The landlord might in this case decide to convert the property back to a single unit – but Adrian Turner, who is chief executive of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, points out that the local planning authority might refuse permission: “Councils are under pressure to increase the number of living units on land, not decrease them,” he says.

Compulsory licensing In a nutshell, from October this year (assuming the Government manages to stick to its own timetable), all properties that are three or more storeys high and which have five or more individuals comprising two or more households living in them, will have to be licensed.

The number of storeys will include occupied basements, lofts and mezzanine floors.The Act defines a “household” as being blood relatives, married couples or unmarried partners, including same-sex partners. So, if the sharers consisted of a family of four plus a family friend, the property would have to be licensed.

It is not terribly clear what “sharing of amenities” means. It is safe to assume that it means kitchens and bathrooms, but whether it could mean no more than a shared entrance or staircase depends on the age, condition and type of building. It is also worth noting that, in the past, the courts have ruled that up to six people living together, even if unrelated, can form a single household precisely because they behave as one – i.e., they share amenities. So, the new Housing Act represents a very different approach.

How much? Controversially, the Government has decided that the local authorities, who will be doing the licensing, can set their own fees. Suggestions that a cap should be set have been rejected, because of fears that councils would charge the highest possible amount. Instead, councils’ charges will vary and educated guesses reckon that the licensing fees will be between £60 to £180 per habitable room.

The licence will generally last for five years. If you need to license a property, you must apply for one at the earliest opportunity even if the local authority takes a while to get round to issuing the licence – otherwise you will be breaking the law.

Licensing of other HMOs Although the Act is pretty clear as to which HMOs have to be licensed, it also allows local authorities to extend the requirement for licensing to other HMOs – i.e., regardless of how many storeys they have, or how many occupants there are.

So, an apartment shared by two friends might, if the local authority decided, also have to be licensed. It is already fairly clear that a number of local authorities want to go down this route. Cynics say that this is because it will be a good little earner for the councils. The authorities themselves insist that the only reason is safety.

Licensing anyway The Act also gives local authorities additional licensing powers, which can be extended to cover all rented properties, not just HMOs, in a particular area. There are some curbs here – there has to be a local consultation and the Secretary of State must give specific approval, after the local authority has demonstrated its case.

Fitness of properties All properties that are licensed will be assessed, using a new scheme - the Housing Health and Safety Rating Standard (HHSRS) – which assesses risks based on age.

So, while an HMO might in fact be occupied by students with an average age of 20, the assessment will ignore this. Different elements of the property will have different risks depending on different ages: stairs will be assessed on the likelihood of old people falling down them, for example, and fire danger looked at from the point of view of babies and children – the ones statistically most likely to die in a blaze.

The assessment will be carried out by an environmental health officer using a risk-based approach and a scoring system. There will be category one risks, requiring action, and category two risks, where action is advisable.

With a category one risk, the local authority can serve an improvement notice, close down the building or issue a management order by which the authority itself takes over the management of the building. If it did, it would carry out the improvements and deduct those costs from the rent it will be collecting before passing it on. With a category two risk, the authority might merely serve a hazard warning.

Age and type of property Blocks of modern, purpose-built flats will escape the licensing regime, but properties which have been converted into flats are trickier. If more than one-third are tenanted and the building does not comply with the 1991 or later Building Regulations, then it will have to be licensed.

The licensing regime Licences will stipulate how many people can live in a particular property. At the time of going to press, we are still waiting for the Government to announce its national minimum standards, which are likely to relate to washing, toilet and cooking facilities, but will not stipulate minimum room sizes.

Any landlord not having a licence that should have one faces a fine of up to £20,000 and may have to forfeit rent for the period when a licence should have been in force. A tenant will be able to recover the rent for that period by applying to a Residential Property Tribunal.

Fit and proper managers Anyone who manages an HMO, whether the landlord or an appointed agent, must be a “fit and proper” person. This means not having a criminal record or having committed any offence relating to the letting or management of property.

Tenants’ behaviour The Act does make passing references to landlords or their agents being responsible for the behaviour of their tenants and their tenants’ visitors. This could be specifically addressed in separate legislation this year, although a judicial review of a law which had been introduced in Northern Ireland has recently thrown it out. But it could have an impact under the Housing Act if local authorities decide to extend their licensing regime, for example, to run down areas with a lot of anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs).

Tenancy Deposit Schemes From next year, it will be illegal for any landlord or agent who does not belong to an authorised scheme to accept or hold a tenant’s deposit. The details are sketchy but it seems likely that either deposits will have to be held by a third party custodial scheme, or that anyone accepting deposits will have to subscribe to insurance schemes which guarantee the tenant will get their money back if deemed fair. The Government will be inviting tenders for schemes in the autumn.

Landlord action groups are very opposed to these Tenancy Deposit Schemes because they maintain that the problem of landlords unfairly hanging on to tenants’ deposits has been vastly over-stated by people with vested interests.

Too much regulation? There are well over 60 pieces of legislation which directly affect landlords and the Housing Act won’t be the last. Next to come, once the results of the consultation are known, is anti-disability legislation which will require landlords to, or allow, certain adaptations to their properties at the request of particular tenants.

You can keep abreast of changing legal requirement of landlords by joining your Regional Landlords’ Association.