While many families do live in the private rented sector, a number of properties are classed as house in multiple occupation (HMO). These properties are rented out to people who share no family ties; often the tenants are students or young professionals.
Due to the nature of these tenancies, there are a number of additional requirements placed on landlords who manage HMO properties. This includes more rigorous fire safety requirements, waste disposal rules and potentially the need to apply for a licence to manage the property.
As a result, it is important to understand whether or not you have a HMO and what additional requirements you need to abide by as the manager of a HMO property.
This guide is intended to provide you with the information you need to understand whether you have a HMO and what you are required to do as a HMO manager if you are.
What is a HMO (Houses of Multiple Occupancy)?
At its most basic a HMO is a property occupied as the primary residence of three or more people, living in two or more households.
However, there are a number of different definitions of a HMO set out in the Housing Act 2004 that complicate this definition.
If there are at least three people living in the property and it falls into one of these categories, it will be a HMO unless an exemption applies–
- The standard test or self-contained flat tests- a self-contained building or flat shared by at least three people in which more than one household shares a basic amenity such as a toilet, bathroom or cooking facilities
- The converted building test - a building that has been converted and does not entirely comprise of self-contained flats. For example, a property where the bathroom is out in a separate hallway rather than inside the flat.
- Section 257 HMO - a converted block of self-contained flats where fewer than two-thirds of the flats are owner-occupied and the standard of the conversion does not meet the relevant building standards.
- A local authority defined HMO – where the property is not solely used as residential accommodation but meets the criteria of one of the other tests, the local authority may designate the property as a HMO.
What is a household?
A household is a family unit though the definition of family is quite broad. It includes husbands, wives, civil partners and people cohabiting as if they were married or in a civil partnership. It also includes parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces or cousins. Step or half- relatives are considered to be family in the same way.
This family unit does not need everyone to be linked together but there must be a chain of relations to form a household. So, for example, a husband and wife live together with the wife’s brother. This would be classed as a household because the wife has a familial relationship to both.
Can a property shared by two people be a HMO?
No. At least three people will need to reside in the property for it to be a HMO.