5. What is a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)?

The Housing Act 2004 came into force in 2006 and changed the way in which Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) are defined and regulated in England and Wales. HMOs are defined under sections 254 - 257 of the Act (also see Appendix 1).

HMOs include house and flat shares, student homes, bedsits and some buildings converted into self-contained flats. For a building, or part of a building, to form an HMO it must fall within one of the following descriptions:

  • Section 254 HMOs - There are three types of HMO under this section:
    • A house occupied by persons forming more than one household who share a basic amenity, such as a bathroom, toilet or cooking facilities. This is called ‘the standard test’.
    • A flat occupied by persons forming more than one household who share a basic amenity (all of which are within the flat), such as a bathroom, toilet or cooking facilities. This is called ‘the self-contained flat test’.
    • A building that has been converted into flats but not all of the flats are fully self-contained flats. There may not necessarily be sharing of all amenities. This is called ‘the converted building test’.

The definition of a household could be a single person or members of the same family who live together. This includes people who are married or living together, people in same-sex relationships, any member of a family (including aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, grandparents and grandchildren and their partners; stepchildren and foster children). It also includes unrelated occupiers living with a family such as carers or nannies. However, friends and students occupying a house on a shared tenancy are viewed as multiple households.

  • Section 257 HMOs - A converted block of flats (the whole building or part of a building) will be a ‘section 257’ HMO where the following apply:
    • The building (or part of it) has been converted entirely into self-contained flats, and
    • The conversion into self-contained flats did not (and still do not) meet the Building Regulations 1991 (or later), and
    • Less than two-thirds of the flats are owner-occupied.

The nature of section 257 HMOs means they may contain any number of different residents including leaseholders, freeholders, and tenants. Ownership and control of such properties can be complex, with right to manage companies, letting agents, managing agents and absentee owners, all of whom may have some interest in how a property is run. These parties may not always agree on the best way forward. Licensing provides a means by which a single party takes responsibility for the property and has responsibility to ensure that it is managed effectively.

Another significant feature of this type of HMO is that the fire precautions will, by definition, usually be lacking or not up to the standards of the average new building. This is because they were converted prior to the 1991 Building Regulations or converted subsequently but have never been made compliant with the regulations, which require structural fire safety precautions to a higher standard. Therefore, retrospective smoke detectors, fire alarms and emergency lighting may be required.

It is important to remember that properties with three or more people and two or more households are still HMOs even if they are not licensable under the mandatory licensing scheme and are already legally required to meet national and locally introduced housing standards.

Exemptions to the licensing requirements are included in Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004 and primarily relate to buildings owned and managed by public sector bodies, housing associations, the police, and educational establishments.