Rogers v Islington [1999]

The Borough Council served on the landlord of a property a s. 352 Housing Act 1985 notice requiring fire safety measures to be undertaken, as they considered his property to be an HMO. The landlord defended this, contending that the property was not an HMO even though there were nine rooms let to different people. The house was described by the owner as a 'private residential club' and was let out to nine young adults between 20-30. In the County Court the judge held that most of the criteria suggested that the property was a single dwelling unit and not an HMO.

On appeal:
HELD: The Appeal Court concluded that the occupants did not form a single household and was clearly different and distinguishable from the case relied on by the landlord (Sheffield CC v Barnes where a group of five students decided to rent a property together) for two main reasons. Firstly, in the present case, the occupants came to the property one by one, mostly for indefinite and dissimilar periods. Secondly there were, in this case nine occupants in the house and the relationship between the numerous and shifting occupants of the property was insufficient to form a single household, whereas in Barnes, the group number only four or five. The house was held to be an HMO.