Houses and flats occupied by unrelated tenants who share kitchen, bathroom and/or other facilities are known as houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
HMOs also include houses and flats occupied by live in landlords with three or more tenants, some guesthouses, hostels and lodging houses and certain buildings which have been converted into self-contained flats containing tenants.
If you are a tenant living in an HMO and you need advice or information, please contact us.
Regulation and responsibilities
We regulate, inspect and where appropriate licence HMOs in accordance with housing and environmental health legislation and our adopted standards for HMOs.
The regulation, inspection and licensing of an HMO ensures it has an appropriate number of bedrooms of an appropriate size, adequate kitchen and bathroom facilities, appropriate fire safety measures and adequate refuse storage facilities.
As a tenant, you will generally be responsible for internal decorations within your flat or bedsit and any of your own appliances or fixtures.
Your landlord will generally be responsible for the maintenance and management of the HMO, its communal areas, its amenities, the fire precautions such as fire detection and emergency lighting systems, and the internal maintenance of the rented flats or bedsits.
If you think your landlord may need a licence, see landlord's guide to licensing.
Council Tax for HMO's
Council Tax for HMOs For single property council tax valuation purposes, HMOs are set to be defined as per the Housing Act 2004, which encompasses any property with access to shared facilities. Self-contained properties are excluded from the changes in council tax valuation. Following The Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings and Liability for Owners) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023, from 1 December 2023, all HMOs in England are to be valued as a single property (aggregated) for Council Tax purposes. This will mean the Landlord will be liable for Council Tax.
Further information and guidance can be found on the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) website.
The Council has now supplied information of all Licensed HMO’s to the VOA, who are reviewing each case individually and re-aggregating them back to one property as applicable. Changes to our records will take place once the cases are reported to us by the VOA.