HMO practical inspection

Paul Fitzgerald qualified as an Environmental Health Officer in 1979 and has worked for a number of Inner London and 2 rural authorities, specialising in private sector housing. Paul has also worked for a Residential Social Landlord as a maintenance manager, dealing with routine, cyclical and project management. Since 1995 Paul has worked as a consultant in this field, carrying out, managing and quality assessing stock condition surveys, working for both public and private sector landlords on specific projects or providing staff cover. He set up his own company, Southern Environmental Services Limited, which ran from 1998 to 2021 and now acts as a sole trader, trading as Southern Environmental Services.

Paul has been involved with the implementation of the Housing Health and Safety Hazard Rating System since 1999, when it was trialied as part of local authority stock condition surveys. He is a University of Warwick Trained HHSRS Trainer, having delivered courses continuously since 2004, on the assessment and enforcement of the system, for the University of Warwick, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, CPC Ltd. PPS Ltd. RHE Ltd and other commercial training organisations. He has both developed and presented courses for Fire Risk Awareness, HMO Practical Inspection and Enforcement, HMO Licensing, Damp and Mould, Asbestos and bite-size modules for traditional housing construction.

His contracts have included;

• Managing the Houses in Multiple Occupation Team at Eastbourne Borough Council

• Acting Private Sector Housing Manager for Gravesham Borough Council, specifically submitting a successful bid for £0.86M additional grant funding.

• Private Sector Housing Team Manager, Oxford City Council, various roles, including HMO Enforcement and Unlawful Developments

• Delivering training courses to Private Sector Landlords on HMO issues.

• Delivering training courses to Surveying Companies and RSLs on the Health and Safety Hazard Rating System.

He continues to be act as a consultant and expert witness for both for Local Authorities and for private landlords, RSLs and charities such as Shelter in Private Sector Housing cases, putting theory into practice.

He has been the chairman of the National HMO Network and is still a member of that organisation.

John has worked in the field of housing standards for the last 20 years, both in private practice providing consultancy, survey and training services, and more recently as an enforcement officer within local authority private sector housing teams. He has also been a member of the English Housing Survey team since 2001 and has used the HHSRS in survey work from 2002.

He has been involved in training local authority and housing association officers on the provisions of the Housing Act 2004, either through the various initial government funded training schemes or by direct commission from clients, since the mid-2000s.

He currently works part time in a local authority as a senior officer private sector housing officer with responsibilities including general complaints, HMO licensing and enforcement, caravan site licensing, DFGs, and the development of policy and procedures, and is Director of a housing consultancy practice.