Licensing of Certain Houses in Multiple Occupation

Certain Houses in multiple occupation must be licensed by the Council.

What is a House in Multiple Occupation?

  • An entire house or flat let to 3 or more tenants who form 2 or more households and share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.
  • A house converted entirely into bedsits or other non-self-contained accommodation and let to 3 or more tenants who form 2 or more households and share kitchen, bathroom or toilet facilities.
  • A converted house which contains one or more flats which are not wholly self contained (i.e. the flat does not contain within it a kitchen, bathroom and toilet) and is occupied by 3 or more tenants who form two or more households.
  • A building converted entirely into self-contained flats if the conversion did not meet the standards of the 1991 Building Regulations and more than one-third of the flats are let on short-term tenancies.

Which houses need to be licensed?

You may need a license if:

  • You rent out a property which has three or more storeys (including habitable attics or basements)
  • You rent out a property which has five or more unrelated tenants

A member of Environmental Health team will be happy to answer any questions you may have about license requirements.
The Environmental Health Service will make sure the house is safe and that the landlord is a fit and proper person to run a shared house.

Landlords must apply to the Council for a licence. You can download a copy of the license application form to fill in below. You can then complete it and return it to the Council. There are also comprehensive guidance notes which you will need to complete the form, you can also download these below
PDF Icon hmo_licensing_application_guidance.pdf (105KB - PDF Help)
PDF Icon hmo_licensing_application_form-2.pdf (78KB - PDF Help)

Landlords have to display the license in the house, so tenants will be aware if the landlord has had the property licensed.

You can find more information from the Department for Communities and Local Government website by clicking here.

Reviewed 14th December 2007