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A Bath council crackdown of HMOs and student accommodation has revealed a catalogue of horrors. As housing officers suspected, some tenants were living in squalid and overcrowded conditions.
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Mushroom Infestation
In one rental flat occupied by students, housing officers discovered a collection of giant mushrooms growing in the corner of a ceiling thanks to serious levels of damp. In another, the ceiling had caved in. Other problems included a bathroom where everything was covered in a layer of mould, the window and ceiling was rotten, and broken tiles had been badly repaired. And then there was the bedsit that was barely large enough to contain a double mattress, not to mention the shared home with 31 people living there.
A Lack of Basic Health & Safety Precautions
No fire precautions and an ignorance of basic health and safety were common themes. Dangerous stairs and poor heat insulation were found in many of the properties inspected, and of course damp issues cropped up time after time.
As a result of the issues found, Bath and North East Somerset Council is going to undertake a thorough review of the standards and general quality inside HMOs in the city.
“Looking at ways to manage both growth and quality of HMOs in Bath is an important part of this wider look at this type of accommodation in the city,” said Chair of the Bath City Forum, Councillor Bob Goodman.
The council hopes this strategy will help to tackle the persistent problem of rogue landlords operating in the city.
