Student landlords are often confused by complicated house in multiple occupation (HMO) rules, as the law contains special exemptions for students.
Student halls are exempt from HMO rules but student lets are not.
The key is a student HMO is the tenant’s main home under the housing act, and if a property has three or more occupiers making up more than one household who share basic amenities, the house or flat is an HMO.
Occupiers is not the number of tenants, but the number of people living in the property, so includes children.
Basic amenities would cover a shared kitchen or bathroom.
An HMO is not only a house with shared facilities, where each tenant has their own room, but can also be a house converted in to flats.
Specialist property lawyers Painsmith have put together three common letting scenarios for landlords to test whether a property is an HMO:
Test 1 - Your property is probably an HMO if the answer to all these questions is ‘yes’:
• Do you rent out your property?
• Is the property a house or a self contained flat?
• Do three or more households share at least either a kitchen or bathroom?
• Is your main home elsewhere?
Test 2 - Your property is probably an HMO if the answer to all these questions is ‘yes’:
• Do you rent out your property?
• Is the property a house or self-contained flat?
• Do three or more households share at least either a kitchen or bathroom?
• Do you live in the property?
• Do you have three or more unrelated people living in the property with you?
Test 3: Your property is probably an HMO if the answer to all these questions is ‘yes’:
• Do you rent out your property?
• Is the property a converted block?
• Does it comprise only self-contained flats?
• Are one third or less of the flats owner occupied by someone with a lease of at least 21 years?
• Was the conversion completed before 1991and not compliant with 1991 Building Regulations?
If you property is an HMO, then you should contact the local council to make sure you are complying with planning and licensing restrictions.
