15. Proposed licensing conditions

All HMO licences are required under schedule 4 of the Housing Act 2004 to include certain specified mandatory licence conditions which must be adhered to by the licence holder. In addition to these mandatory conditions, section 67 of the Act allows the local authority to include conditions it considers appropriate to regulate the management, use, occupation, condition and contents of the property. Furthermore, any specific matters that need addressing which are identified during the property inspection by the local authority officer will be included in that property’s licence as additional conditions and a timescale set for their remediation and compliance. Non-compliance with the licence conditions can result in enforcement by the local authority.

The mandatory and imposed conditions that apply to all HMO licences issued by the council can be found in Appendix 2.

All applications submitted also require the following documents and certificates to be submitted with the application (along with a fee):

  • A “satisfactory” Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) dated less than five years old and free of all code 1, code 2 and FI items
  • A Landlord’s Gas Safety Certificate, where applicable
  • Portable Appliance Test (PAT) Certificate for all moveable electrical appliances supplied by the landlord, including stand-alone electric cookers, washing machine, tumble-dryers and dishwashers
  • Tenancy agreement
  • Emergency lighting maintenance certificate, where applicable
  • Fire alarm testing certificate, where applicable
  • Plan of the property showing room sizes and location of fire detection items
  • A Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) is also a legal requirement for communal areas in buildings where there are two or more flats
  • Declaration that the proposed licensee is a “fit and proper” person

It is the intention that these same mandatory and imposed licence conditions and provision of the above documentation will apply to the proposed additional HMO licensing scheme. Appropriate fire safety and detection in communal areas and linking with individual flats is likely to play a significant part under the proposed scheme. Many of the types of properties proposed to be included have inadequate fire detection and even in properties that currently require a mandatory HMO licence, this is one of the most frequently occurring matters that arises and that is identified by private sector housing officers and the Fire and Rescue Service.

For properties converted into flats, the council will need to know how many of the flats, if any, are under the direct control of the licence holder.

All licences issued by the council in respect of houses and flats will contain information about the maximum number of persons and households that can reside in the premises and as indicated for the maximum occupancy of each individual room (where applicable). The number permitted is in relation to the number of amenities provided and size of rooms available. Where it is impracticable to improve the property, conditions will be applied limiting the numbers of persons able to occupy the property or parts of it. The use and occupancy levels of each room cannot be changed without the approval of the council. Any increase in occupancy, where eligible, is subject to an additional occupant fee. The licence will also identify the type of property that the council considers it to be, for example, a shared house, bedsit-type shared house or bedsit. Changes in how a property is used and occupied can mean it will fall into a different category and require additional facilities or works to be carried out to meet the required standards.

Licences issued in respect of buildings and communal parts only, will focus mainly on fire safety, disrepair, maintenance and management and overall safety. In many instances fire safety measures will need to be interlinked to individual flats within a building. Responsibility for the fire alarm system will mainly be that of the freeholder and cooperation from leaseholders and their tenants will be required to enable the interlinking of systems between common parts and individual flats to ensure the system operates as it is designed to and ensure early warning in the event of a fire. The provision of fire doors to each individual flat’s entrance that are not under the freeholder’s control, i.e. the flat is a leasehold flat, are usually the responsibility of the leaseholder. The freeholder should be able to require leaseholders to install appropriate and compliant fire doors under the terms of the lease and to comply with the common parts HMO licence “conditions” and fire safety legislation, which is enforced by both the Fire and Rescue Service and local authority.