A recent ruling in favour of a Manchester landlord could have significant implications for Local Authorities seeking to impose minimum room sizes on landlords with HMO properties. Local Councils cannot make blanket regulations regarding the size of bedrooms in a property, as Manchester City Council recently attempted, and instead must consider each property on its own merit.

Clark v Manchester City Council was reviewed by an Upper Tier Tribunal that decided that the Manchester’s insistence on local standards for bedroom size was not a power that had been afforded to them.

The situation stems from the DWP case regarding bedroom tax last year, where defendants claimed that rooms could not be bedrooms because of size. The DWP ruled that size has nothing to do with the space functioning as a bedroom, and it would be clear if a room was being used as a bedroom. This led to the need for inspections and case-by-case taxing.

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has responded to licensing consultations questioning bedroom size requirements as unacceptable and has welcomed the recent decision by the Tribunal.