Report an unlicensed house in multiple occupation (HMO)

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If you suspect a property is a house in multiple occupation (HMO) occupied by five or more people and does not have a licence, you can report this to us online.

A licensable HMO is a property with five or more people who form two or more households. They could be living in separate rooms but share facilities, such as a kitchen or bathroom.

Before you report it

Check our public licensed HMO register, which is an interactive map of all properties in the BANES area with an HMO licence.

Report it

If the property you are looking for does not appear on the map, and is likely to be occupied by five or more persons, you can report this, using our online form. All reports will be confidential.

Information you will need, to complete the form

When you complete the report form, we will ask you the following details:

• The address of the property
• The number of occupants in the property
• If you know the names of owners or agents responsible for the property
• If you would like to be kept updated on the progress of your report
• Anything you have concerns about

Next steps

If you are a tenant reporting the property you are living in 

We will (one or all of the following):

• contact you and arrange a visit to the property (Monday to Friday, between 9am and 4pm). We may also contact your landlord to inform them of the visit.
• take action, if we identify that the property is unsafe or fails to meet other statutory standards 
• instruct the landlord to complete repairs on the property. We may do this informally, or by serving a legal notice, which will set out the minimum legal housing standards required. If the landlord fails to get the repairs done satisfactorily, then we can take further action.
• start a formal investigation, if we find the property to be operating illegally

If you are reporting a property that you are not living in

We will (one or all of the following):

• carry out a computer search, to see if the property is operating as an unlicensed HMO
• inspect the property (unannounced or announced)
• send a letter to the owner, informing them of HMO licensing requirements,  and instructing them to apply for a licence
• start a formal investigation, if we find the property to be operating illegally