Your home is a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) if both of the following apply:
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at least 3 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household
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you share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants
Your home is a large HMO if both of the following apply:
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at least 5 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household
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you share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants
A family or single household can consist of: husband, wife, co-habitee, child, step-child, foster-child, grandchild, parent, step-parent, foster-parent, grandparent, brother, half-brother, sister, half-sister, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, cousins
HMO |
Not HMO |
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A rented property occupied by 3 or more unrelated people |
A property occupied by a family |
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A rented property occupied by a couple and their friend
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A property occupied by sisters/brothers and their partners |
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A rented property occupied by a mother/father with a child (children) and a friend
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A property occupied by cousins and their partners – they would need to be able to prove that they are related |
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A property with an owner occupier and three or more lodgers
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A property occupied by an owner and one or two lodgers |
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A property used for sleeping accommodation for staff occupied by 3 or more unrelated people. |
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Section 257 Housing Act 2004 - HMO in Flats
A building which is comprised entirely of converted self-contained flats and the standard of the conversion does not meet, at a minimum, the standard required by the 1991 Building Regulations, and less than two thirds of the flats are owner occupied is called a Section 257 HMO. These buildings do not require a licence, unless occupants share a toilet, bathroom, kitchen that is located on the common parts of the building.
To find out which HMOs require a licence, go back to the page: Which HMOs need a licence?
Buildings that are not HMOs
The following is a summary from Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004 also taken from the CLG publication mentioned above.
Some buildings are not HMOs for the purpose of the Housing Act 2004, even if they meet the requirements of the HMO definition. These buildings are:
• those under the management or control of a local housing authority, a registered social landlord or certain other public bodies;
• those regulated under other enactments, such as care homes, children homes and bail hostels etc.;
• those occupied solely or mainly by students studying a full time course of further and higher education at a specified education establishment which manages the building in question and the specified education establishment is subject to an approved code of practice and the building in question is subject to that code;
• those that are occupied for the purpose of a religious community whose main occupation is prayer, contemplation, education or the relief of suffering. This exemption does not apply to a converted block of flats within the meaning of section 257 of the 2004 Act occupied by such a community;
• those that are occupied by a freeholder or long leaseholder and any member of his household (if any) and any other persons not forming part of his household and not exceeding two in number (e.g. owner occupiers household and one or two lodgers). This does not apply to section 257 HMOs;
• those that are occupied by only two persons each of whom form a single household e.g. a flat share of no more than two persons.