Your question
Our landlord is threatening to evict us becuase we are subletting a room in our flat on Airbnb to help us pay the rent. He says he can evict us becuase us renting out the room would make him liable for HMO licensing. Is this correct?
Your answer
Yes it is correct. You should not be subletting the room, via Airbnb or any other advertising platform.
If you sublet the room you may be making your landlord liable under the HMO licensing regulations for not having a license. If this is the case, then you will be making him liable under the criminal law.
Because it is a criminal offence to rent out a property which is liable for an HMO license, without one.
If this were to go to court the Judge would almost certainly grant a possession order in these circumstances. It is totally unacceptable for a tenant, by his or her actions, to make their landlord liable for criminal prosecution.
Your landlord would also almost certainly succeed were he to apply to the Court for an injunction (and you would almost certainly be ordered to pay your landlord’s legal costs).
You should find some other way to raise money to pay the rent. For example see some of the suggestions in our article below on getting financial assistance.
Free guide
A Guide to getting Financial Assistance
This article will take you through the various sources of financial help and gives guidance
10 – 17 minutes to read
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