HMO and AST's

HMO Licensing

Southampton. I used to rent to students on an AST, but switched to renting room by room to 4 young professionals on individual agreements. However, when it came to renewing my HMO license Southampton City Council (SCC) told me that they had added a requirement that all HMO tenants must be on one collective AST, otherwise no HMO license. So I had to terminate all 4 existing agreements and put them all on one AST, but with a separate agreement that a) failure to pay rent would not mean that the other tenants had to pick up the tab, and b) that if one of them leaves we can use a Deed of Assignment to install a substitute tenant. That's a workaround, but it's bonkers that we have to do it. I would like to see how we can get SCC to see sense. Is there a way, perhaps via a NRLA meeting, that we can raise the matter with SCC via members and other landlords? And does anyone have any other ideas?