The new legislation is not to be feared, but all advisers should engage sooner rather than later with their clients to see whether or not a licence application needs to be made.

As for the HMO space and wider buy-to-let sector, we have every confidence that as long as the supply-demand gap remains as wide as it is today, for which there is no evidence to the contrary, it will remain a profitable and important product.

Harry Landy is managing director of Enterprise Finance