ROGUE landlords have been warned they have "nowhere to hide" as two more were hauled before the courts for charging seven people to live in ramshackle houses.

In a broadside to those flouting the rules, the city's housing team warned more people knew their rights and were willing to complain about dodgy landlords.

And the local authority said it was poised to make them pay for their crimes.

The council's board member for housing Mike Rowley revealed landlords were fined a total of £220,748 by the courts and ordered to pay a further £100,709 in costs for crimes related to so-called HMOs (houses of multiple occupancy) between 2011 – when the HMO licensing scheme came into force – and 2015.

In the same period, property owners in the city were convicted of 176 HMO-related offences.

Mr Rowley: "Our enforcement is proving effective and as it becomes more familiar, more people are aware of their rights and complain about dodgy landlords.

"The scheme has been going on for give years now and has been given a great deal of publicity. There is no excuse for not licensing a property and rogue landlords have nowhere to hide."

In 2015, a total of 17 landlords were prosecuted, with 14 - including two last Tuesday - taken to court so far in 2016 over breaches of licence or having failed to obtain a license for an HMO.

The houses can be in such a poor condition they risk the lives of those that are paying to live there, with no smoke alarms or overcrowding.

Mr Rowley added: "If you don't license a property there are all sorts of dangers. In a lot of cases the property is not licensed because it's not in an acceptable condition, and the owner is trying to get under the radar so they don't have to make basic improvements like buying a smoke alarm or dealing with rising damp.

"Landlords might not be complying with legal protection for tenants, such as putting the deposit in a special account to make sure it's fairly returned."

Overall the council has spent £61,753 on enforcement since the scheme began in 2011 and received £52,958, as the full costs are not always awarded by the courts.

Mr Rowley said recouping more money would be good for "pro-active enforcement" and since the HMO licensing scheme was introduced in Oxford, some "very severe offences" had been recorded by the five-strong team.

Mark Crampton Smith, the director of St Clement's-based lettings agency College & County, said landlords are given the opportunity to rectify mistakes before enforcement kicks in.

He said: "The city council will be helpful and tell them what needs to be done, with a time-frame. It's not like they swoop down, charge them and take them to court."

College & County presently manages about 200 HMOs around Oxford. It is believed there are 7,000 in the city overall, of which about 60 per cent are licensed.

Mr Crampton Smith added: "The reality is that there is a massive housing shortage in Oxford; the only way young professionals can live here is in shared accommodation.

"I think it would now be very difficult for a landlord in Oxford not to know you are supposed to have a licence."

Game designer Richard Edwards, 26, who rents a room for £500 in an HMO in South Oxford, said he would never knowingly live in an unlicensed property but "it's a risk you take when you're renting."

He added: "Most people I know live in HMOs. I don't think the answer is to force landlords to treat tenants better – it's to make sure people can afford housing of their own."