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A new name does not erase what is happening in a Brighton HMO I am aware of.<br><br>Brand Vaughan remains named on Brighton & Hove City Council's HMO licence register, while the property has been sublet for day-to-day management to a tiny, newly incorporated ghost company with no established housing-management history and virtually nothing reputationally to lose.<br><br>Meanwhile, Brand Vaughan retains its official position on the licence so it can retain passive profits while remaining totally absent from the actual management of the house.<br><br>The property has no Fire Risk Assessment, was recorded by East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service as a single dwelling rather than a HMO, and still has crucial outstanding fire-safety and HMO licence remedial works that were due over a year ago! Those outstanding remedials were confirmed by a Brighton & Hove City Council housing inspector.<br><br>Tenants have also had to deal with serious safeguarding failures, including complaints concerning indecent exposure and harassment, while even basic management responsibilities such as enforcing house rules, managing anti-social behaviour and fire-safety compliance have been completely neglected.<br><br>The rogue management also installed CCTV cameras inside the communal areas of the HMO, including directly outside a communal bathroom, filming tenants entering and leaving the bathroom in towels and pyjamas within their own home. The installer was witnessed granting the same tenant reported for repeated indecent exposure access to the live camera feed via the mobile application.<br><br>These matters have now been reported to Sussex Police, the Information Commissioner's Office, Brighton & Hove City Council and East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service. In the coming days, the council housing team and East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service are attending the property together for a joint inspection.<br><br>So before celebrating an "exciting new chapter", perhaps Charters should explain how Brand Vaughan can remain on the official HMO licence, benefit financially from the property, outsource the day-to-day responsibility to a newly incorporated company, and yet allow a licensed HMO to operate without a Fire Risk Assessment, under the wrong fire-service classification, with confirmed safety remedials outstanding for over a year.<br><br>You can change the branding. You can change the logo. You can hand the property to a company with no history and hope tenants are sent round in circles.<br><br>But you cannot rebrand away the licence, the paper trail, the confirmed breaches, the ongoing police, ICO, council and fire service involvement, or accountability.... Read more
26th Jul 2026 (7 days ago)