HMO issues
There are three things you need to know:
- Whether your property is already an HMO, or
- Whether by taking in lodgers you will create an HMO, and
- Whether, if your property is an HMO, you will need to get a license
1. Is your property already an HMO?
This may be the case if you are a tenant of private rented property. For example if you are sharing a property with people who you are not related to, e.g. in a student house.
Following on from this, if your home is in one of those HMOs where your landlord has had to obtain a license, he may not be able to let you to have a lodger. The reason being that most licenses limit the number of people allowed to live in the property. If there are already this number, your landlord will risk losing his license if he lets anyone else live there.
If this is your landlords reason for refusing permission, there is nothing that can be done (other than move house).
2. Will taking in a lodger create an HMO?
Under the Housing Act 2004, a property is classed as an HMO if there are three or more occupiers who form two or more households and who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.
A household is generally a family unit (including parents, grandparents, children (and step-children), grandchildren, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces or cousins, plus half relatives and foster children). If therefore, you take in your cousin as a lodger, this will not count as a separate household. Similarly any ‘domestic staff’ for example an au pair or nanny.
As a live-in landlord, you are allowed two ‘non-family’ lodgers before your property can be classed as an HMO. So, if you take in three non-family lodgers your property will probably be an HMO. However, if you take in two uncles, your cousin and have a live-in nanny, your property will not be an HMO, even though there will be more people living in it!
Note however that this is only if you are an owner-occupier. If you are yourself a tenant, if taking in a (non-family member) lodger will bring the number of people in the property to over 2 – this could create an HMO.
The HMO Management regulations: One of the main consequences of running an HMO is that you need to comply with the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 – whether or not you need to get a license. There is not time to discuss these in any detail here, but you can read them online >> here.
3. What about licensing?
Many people with lodgers do not realise that in some circumstances they may have to obtain a license from their local authority. This will be if:
- Your property is an HMO as discussed above, and
- (In Wales only) The property has three or more storeys, and
- There are four or more persons living at the property in addition to yourself and your family (including any family who are lodgers and any domestic staff)
To work out how many storeys there are, you need to include all actual storeys in the building including attics and basements if these have been converted to residential use or if they are used for business purposes. So if you have a standard two story house where the attic has been converted to a bedroom then this will count as a three story house. However, since October 2018 the storey’s requirement has no longer applied in England.
If you are not sure whether your house or flat will come within the definition, have a word with someone at your Local Authority. Generally, they will have a separate department which deals with HMOs and the licensing of HMOs.
Note that in some areas Local Authorities have introduced additional licensing requirements, so if you have three or more lodgers (who are not family) it might be a good idea to check with them. However, if you only have two non-family lodgers you will be safe.
If you find out that your property will need licensing, you will have to get the license before letting to your third non-family lodger. This means completing the relevant form and paying the license fee. The fee varies from local authority to local authority. In some places, it is under £100 but in others over £1,000. It will normally last for five years.
If you want to contact your Local Authority to ask about this, you will find contact details in my >> Local Authority Directory.
You will also find more information in the HMO Series on my Landlord Law Blog and the free online course here.
See also this post.
Hi,
My house has 3 stories (one being a recent loft conversion) and i am intending have no more than two lodgers in my house, plus my girlfriend. My partner will pay money to me to cover bills, and use. Does she qualify as a lodger in the eyes of the law?
I am uncertain whether I will require to apply for an HMO licence. With only two lodgers I understand I will not require an HMO licence (even though the house is 3 story), but with my partner as a ‘third lodger’ i would need to apply for the licence. Is this correct?
Many thanks for the great advice on this site
I am afraid you will have to speak to someone at your local authority. Only they can decide on this.
Hi I currently live in a HMO property with 2 friends. So there are 3 names on the tenancy agreement. One of my house mates Girlfriends has moved in and initially she was supposed to be staying for 2 weeks but is now my housemate is intending on her staying for the duration of our tenancy agreement. Is this something that could potentially breach the HMO license? Additionally his girlfriend is intending on applying for Job Seekers Allowance using the property as her registered address could this also lead to complications with the license?
Thanks in advance
Hi Kieron. It really depends on what the terms of the HMO licesne is. If it does breach the license conditions, your landlord is likley to take steps to evict you as otherwise he may be at risk of losing his licesne. Note that if you are joint tenants he will have to evict all of you as you cannot evict one of several joint tenants. You are all collectively ‘the tenant’.
So it will be up to you tenants to regularise the situation.
If you have any other questions not that this site is for Lodger matters only – questions regarding tenants should be addressed to my Landlord Law site or blog.
I Moved out of the family home to go to college. I’m 16 rented a rental house on a short hold tenancy from my mothers business. I took in a lodger
who I don’t no. My cousin stayed with me for a couple of months on two separate occasions when he was unemployed and he claimed benefits. The lodger only uses his room, bath room and toilet. My cousin and I share everything apart from bedroom and some food. The council tax say as far as they are concerned it’s a HMO.
This does not seem to comply with lodger HMO and housing act law discussed on this site?
Unfortunately the definition of an HMO for Council Tax purposes is completely different.
The HMO definition looked at here is that in the 2004 Housing Act, and is about whether you need to comply with the HMO Management Regulations and be licensed.
The definition of an HMO for planning purposes used to be different too, but now it is very similar: http://lodgerlandlord.co.uk.gridhosted.co.uk/2010/04/26/planning-permission-hmos-and-lodger-landlords/
I agree, all these different definitions for what you would have thought was the same thing is very confusing.
Hi,
Basically I’m not on the tenancy agreement and the Ll doesn’t know that i’m staying at his student property, there are 5 furnished beds in total but it was let as a 4 bed with 1 bath and kitchen. Do I have to tell the LL that my friends are letting me stay? even if im not paying rent to anyone? also how do you find out if the dwelling is an HMO and how would I find out what restrictions may have been implemented as in only to use 4 rooms?! Also does it affect the HMO liscense if i’m not a student but the rest of the 4 in the house are?
thanks
It a way, this is something between the landlord and his tenants (who technically will be your landlord). However if all the other tenants are students, and you are not, this may make the property as a whole liable for Council tax. This will not be to anyones advantage.
I believe you can find out about properties’ HMO licenses from the Local Authority – take a look at their web-site. Some are more informative than others.
Hi,
I am slightly confused by the document –
“Under the Housing Act 2004, a property is classed as an HMO if there are three or more occupiers who form two or more households and who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.” So one landlord, and two non-family tenants living in one property would be classed as an HMO but further on in the document you state that “As a live in landlord, you are allowed two ‘non family’ lodgers before your property can be classed as an HMO.”
So, as a live in landlord, with two paying tenants is my house an HMO? And is it enough to have a resident landlord tenancy agreement with my tenants. Many thanks for your reply,
Mehdi
Basically if you have two lodgers you should be all right. It is when you have three or more that it can be an HMO.
You need to work out if they are tenants or logers: http://lodgerlandlord.co.uk.gridhosted.co.uk/2010/03/09/the-five-main-differences-between-a-lodger-and-a-tenant/
Ideally you will want them to be lodgers, not tenants. You can buy a lodger agreement from this site here: http://lodgerlandlord.co.uk.gridhosted.co.uk/shop/
I rent a 3-bedroom house jointly with another person, non-relative. If our landlord takes in another tenant, due to council fire regulations, it will become a HMO and will require alterations, so there is not a third tenant. The Citizen’s Advice Bureau said I can have a non-paying house guest for as long as I want, as long as they don’t damage the property or bother the neighbours. But they did not specify if it matters that it is a non-HMO, and I did not ask.
So if my guest has a permanent address abroad, and my house address as a term-time address here (Uni student), and is not paying any rent to me, can they stay as long as they want? If not, is there a maximum time they can stay? How can I prove that this person has a different primary/permanent address, and is therefore not a lodger? In my understanding lodgers are paying, visitors/guests are for free, is that right?
sorry – I need to specify: we are 2 tenants, not lodgers, our landlord does not live with us. I wanted to know if taking in a friend for free counts as US having a lodger.
Many thanks!
I think you would be all right having a friend to stay for a couple of days or even a week or so. But I would not advise having someone stay permanently, whether they pay rent or not.
In my home I will soon be letting three bedrooms, each to a lodger, and we will all share kitchen bathroom lounge etc.
Would I be creating an HMO? I read on here that “Under the Housing Act 2004, a property is classed as an HMO if there are three or more occupiers who form two or more households and who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.”
So it seems my home WON’T be an HMO as we are NOT “two households” but only one; however…later you say:
“As a live in landlord, you are allowed two ‘non family’ lodgers before your property can be classed as an HMO. So, if you take in three non family lodgers your property will probably be an HMO.”
No mention of being “two households”.
So, will I be creating an HMO or not?
Thanks
It is always very difficult to give yes / no answers to quick questions like this as the real answer is generally “it depends”. I think it very likely that it will be an HMO, but not (for example) if one of the lodgers is a family member such as your cousin.
The act defines what a household is and I summarise this in the post above.
If you are worried about this, the best people to ask are the Local Authorities who police the regulations.
Hello,
My huband and I were hoping to get 2 lodgers; however we have an extention to our house that would enable us to lock a door on the ground floor and also lock one upstairs that would ‘create’ private living areas of two bedrooms and a shower room upstairs and a living room and kitchen diner downstairs so we have some privacy.
The rest of the house includes the front door, hallway, kitchen/diner, living room, bathroom, two double bedrooms and a single bedroom.
We would share the front door, stairs and hallway and retain the small bedroom for family members to stay, (my disabled daughter visits for the weekend each fortnight and our grandchildren come stay with us and the bathroom would be used by them at these times. We would also use the dishwasher and some storage in the kitchen + fridge/freezer. is this situation an HMO or just lodgers in our house?
Lodgers and and HMOs are not either or. If you take in enough lodgers you will have an HMO. Read the post.
I think you mean, will it be a lodger or a tenancy. It sounds to me as if it may be a tenancy rather than a true lodger situation. I suggest you read the relevant post on this blog about how to prevent a tenancy.
Hi, I plan to convert the loft so my dad can move in. I already have two lodgers. I am no so worried about it becoming an HMO, but more concerned about the mortgage providers opinion, or if we will invalidate any insurance. If my dad doesn’t wantt to stay long term I will meant to recoup the cost of the loft conversion by renting out that floor. Can you invisage any problems with this?
Thanks
Steve
@Steve If you are worried about HMO issues it is really best to speak to your Local Authority as the situation varies across the country. Some Local Authorities have additional HMO regulations.