A night of passion could soon cost £20,000.

For a clause in the proposed Housing Bill - due for a third reading in the House of Commons later this year - could slap the five-figure fine on the landlord.

"It's outrageous," says Mark Butterworth of the Residential Landlords Association. "It's not enough that housing is already subject to 58 acts of legislation but this new piece of cack-handed harassment plans to hold landlord responsible for the sex lives of their tenants."

The problem is that any property occupied by five or more people would have to be specially licensed by the local authority.

So if a landlord lets to a group of four people - which is very common among university students - and two or more of them entertain their partners at the weekend, the property effectively becomes subject to a licence … and the landlord will become liable for a £20,000 fine.

ENDS 8 April 2004