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What is a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)?
HMOs are considered by the Government to pose a greater risk to tenants health and safety than singly occupied dwellings. Additional specific housing standards legislation therefore applies to all HMOs and in some cases the Landlords of the property will require a Licence. Government has now defined HMOs under sections 254 and 257 of the Housing Act 2004.
Under Section 254, an HMO is a property let to 2 or more ‘households’ that share kitchen and/or bathroom facilities. Household in this context means a person or persons of the same family or other prescribed relationship, such as carer. Two person house or flat shares are excluded, so if you rent or let property with three or more tenants who form two or more households, it is an HMO. Therefore, most students lets, professionals sharing, buildings containing bed-sits or non-self contained flats or indeed any other dwelling with three or more unrelated tenants sharing facilities is likely to be an HMO.
In addition, under Section 257 of the Act, buildings converted into self continued flats (but not in accordance with the 1991 Building Regulations) are also considered to be HMOs, regardless of whether facilities are shared or not. Purpose built blocks of flats, or any block of flats where less than one third are tenanted, are excluded from the definition of HMO.
All HMOs are subject to requirements under the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006, and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. You can use the links below to see these Statutory Instruments on the Office of Public Sector Information website:
Does my HMO require a Licence?
Not all HMOs require a Licence, but from the 6th April 2006, you will need to apply for an HMO Licence if you control a property falling within the scope of one or more of the following schemes, Failure to Licence a property may result in a fine of up to £20,000. See below for more information on the types of licence:
Mandatory HMO Licensing - All HMOs comprising three or more storeys which have five or more occupants (forming two or more households) require a licence. Please contact us if you own, operate, control or let such property and have not already requested a Licence application pack.
Discretionary ‘Additional’ HMO Licensing – A Local Authority can choose to impose an Additional Licensing scheme on certain categories of HMO, if its feels that failures in management or antisocial behaviour issues need to be addressed. Derby City Council has no current proposals to adopt such a scheme.
Discretionary ‘Selective’ Licensing – A local authority can choose to licences any private rented property (whether HMO or not) if it identified specific problems of low demand or antisocial behaviour. Derby City Council has no current proposals to adopt such a scheme.
What Happened to HMO Registration?
Mandatory HMO Licensing has now replaced the previous HMO Registration Scheme adopted in Derby in 1999. HMOs Registered prior to 06 April 2006 will be automatically pass-ported in to HMO Licensing for the remainder of their original Registration period with the conditions of Registration (if they are Licensable under section 254 as detailed above). When the HMOs registration period Registration expires, an application for Mandatory Licensing must be made.
HMOs Registered prior to 06 April 2006 now falling outside the new Mandatory licensing definition will remain subject to their Registration conditions until the expiry date detailed on the registration document.
For more information on property licences visit the Resident Landlord's Association web page Landlords: Do you need a property licence? 
Contact us
For more information on our services, or to contact us for advice about housing standards, please contact us using the details below, or by using the form at the bottom of this page:
Housing Standards Team,
Housing and Advice Services,
PO Box 6323,
Derby,
DE1 2WW
Telephone: 01332 255 160
Minicom: 01332 255 316
Email: Housing.Standards@derby.gov.uk