TWO landlords have been warned after renting out Glasgow flats without the required licence due to an oversight by a letting agency.

House in multiple occupation (HMO) licences weren’t renewed for the West End properties, meaning the homes should not have been let to three or more people who weren’t related.

A four-bedroom flat on Derby Street and a five-bed property on Bentinck Street remained occupied following the error by Castle Residential.

Applications for new licences were submitted after the mistake had been identified. Glasgow’s licensing committee decided to approve the bids from applicants Surjit Chowdhary and Suzy Sandhu, but warned them over their future management of the flats.

Archie MacIver, the licensing lawyer representing letting agency Castle Residential, said new systems had been put in place to ensure the issue doesn’t occur again. He said the firm had offered to find new accommodation for the tenants, but they chose to remain in the flats. 

Mr MacIver told councillors that Castle Residential covers “about a dozen HMO licences” and renewals for the two West End flats had not been “lodged timeously”.

The omission was “discovered by chance”, he said, after a call to an unrelated matter, and “led to further investigation”.

“New systems have been put in place to try to ensure this situation won’t happen again," he added.

Three are computerised while a paper record is also being kept.

Mr MacIver said: “You cannot just throw somebody out on the street. As soon as these problems arose, the company contacted the tenants in both properties and explained the situation to them.”

After they chose not to leave, the letting agency took the issue to a housing tribunal but it ruled the tenants could not be removed. Mr MacIver said rent was reduced by 25% and the issue raised with the insurance company, which agreed to continue providing cover.

Councillor Alex Wilson, SNP, who chairs the licensing committee, said he could understand the oversight if “someone has 50, 60, 70 properties, but only 12?”

Mr MacIver said the letting agency also manages “several hundred non-HMO properties”.

Cllr Wilson said there are now “very, very robust” systems “to make sure this doesn’t happen again”, adding: "The steps that have been taken are above what we would normally get, which is commendable.”