Specialist House Share, Rooms To Rent & H.M.O. Consultancy

Nationwide rooms to rent (house share) agency to help take the pressure out of finding a room to rent or a lodger. H.M.O. licensing consultancy and hands on management for professional house shares and H.M.O. property.

Many a myth about HMOs and legislation or licensing of them - read on to find out more!

The bulk of information on this page is factual - and taken from council and government website's, and is put together in an easy way to understand using our experience in HMO's. If you want to skip this part because you already know what a HMO is, you can jump to How to set up a HMO.

Do I have to licence my property? What are the requirements?

You will only have to licence your HMO property - in the first instance if it is 3 floors or more, and then only if 5 or more separate tenancies are in it. So this means even if you have an 8 bedroom HMO, if it is on two floors, you do not need to licence it. Far too few landlords understand this legislation, and some even turn down a great investment opportunity for fear of what licensing a HMO entails! Really it is not that scary!

HOWEVER - if your HMO is two floors and has 6 or more rooms in it to rent out, you will need planning permission - this is different to licencing.

The best advice you can take is that all councils operate slightly different. You are better to be safe than sorry. The council are more than happy to come out and do a visit, then put it in writing to you if your property needs a mandatory HMO license

What is the definition of a HMO

Well firstly the abbreviation HMO means House In Multiple Occupation. This means that more than one household (ie two separate tenants or more) live in the property.

What is meant by a household - Well one person on their own is a household, and a couple living in one room is a household, a couple and their baby in a room are also a household.

The standards adopted my local council (Telford and Wrekin) are as follows:

House in Multiple Occupation means a building, or part of a building:

Which is occupied by more than one household sharing an amenity such as a bathroom, toilet or cooking facilities or

Which is occupied by more than one household, which is a converted building which does not entirely comprise self contained flats (whether or not they have shared amenities) or

Which comprises entirely of converted self contained flats and the standard conversion does not meet that required by the 1991 Building Regulations and more then 1/3 of the flats are occupied under short tenancies.

The housing act 2004 introduced mandatory licensing for HMOs of three or more floors with five or more residents comprising of two or more households.

Why is it mandatory to license a HMO?

Licensing was introduced to tackle the issue of anti-social behaviour that was commonly complained about in HMOs, it also reduces the risk of accidental fire and increases the chance of escape and survival. Probably one of the most important things it addresses is the bad landlords that do not provide adequate facilities, and let their tenants live in a mess offering training and support for these landlords.

Fire Safety Laws in HMO's

As a landlord, you have a duty to keep the property to be tenanted in a fit and safe state for the tenants to live in, and make sure that you do not endanger their health in any way that can be avoided. You must insure there are no fire hazards in a property, and supply adequate escape routes and emergency lighting

Emergency Safety Equipment

HMO landlords have to ensure there are adequate fire precautions (including alarms, fire blankets and the correct fire extinguishers) and fire escape routes in place. These must be well maintained and adequate for the number of residents and the size of the property.

HMOs should be fitted with fire / smoke warning systems such as fire alarms and heat or smoke detectors. These should be placed throughout the building but particularly in escape routes and areas of high risk, such as kitchens. The fire warning system should be serviced and checked regularly.

Fire equipment such as extinguishers and fire blankets should be provided. There should be at least one fire extinguisher on each floor and a fire blanket in every shared kitchen. These have to be checked regularly and the correct sort of extinguisher in each area must be provided. It's up to you to make sure you know how to use the fire blanket and fire extinguisher in an emergency and also to explain this to your tenants.

Escape Routes

HMO's should have an escape route that can resist fire, smoke and fumes long enough for everyone to leave (usually at least 30 minutes). This could be an external fire escape, or internal stairs, corridors or walkways that are specially constructed or treated to resist fire. All the walls, ceilings, floors and partitions along the escape route must be fire resistant. All the doors leading to the escape route must be fire resistant and must close automatically.

Non-compliance

If you fail to comply with your fire safety responsibilities in your HMO, your local council or Fire & Rescue Service may serve a legal notice and could even prosecute. You should contact both before this can happen - to ensure you put everything in place before anyone moves in.

The Housing Health & Safety Rating System (HHSRS)

This system is a means of testing that HMO's are safe for tenants. The system grades dangers and risks and forms an evaluation that shows how safe a HMO is. It takes into consideration things like physiological requirements (things that can effect living conditions like damp and cold and mould growth, asbestos, lead). Also Psychological needs (for example light and noise, space and security). It con ciders infection control relating to hygiene and sanitation and finally dangers from accidents (falls, electrocution, fire, explosions, structural accidents)