HMO Guidance (including Article 4)

What is a HMO?

A House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) is one in which 3 or more unrelated people live as 2 or more households in the property, whilst sharing facilities like the bathroom and kitchen. It’s sometimes called a ‘house share’. HMOs require a licence, which you apply for here.

Your home is a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) if both of the following apply:  

1. at least 3 residents live there, forming more than 1 household  

2. and you share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other residents.  

If a person lives in a house or flat with at least two other people who aren't members of their family they live in a HMO.  

Every local authority issues it’s HMO standards document. Please make yourself familiar with the HMO standards for your local authority. For example:

• ‍Plymouth Houses of Multiple Occupation Standards ‍
• Bristol City Council Room Size and Amenity Standards for Licensable HMOs ‍
• Exeter City Council Standards in HMOs

Typically, an HMO must meet the following standards:

Fire safety

The building must have:

1. Fire alarms (Mains wired with battery back-up interconnected smoke detectors in all habitable rooms and landings and mains wired with battery back-up interconnected heat detectors in kitchen.)
2. Fire extinguishers
3. Fire blankets
4. Fire doors
5. Fire escapes & fire escape routes

These must be adequate for the number of people living in the property and the size of property. They must also be well maintained and demonstrated to every resident when they start their residency.

Lighting

All kitchens, bathrooms and toilets must have adequate lighting. This can either be natural or artificial lighting. Some require emergency lighting in hallways or stairways where it is dark.

Ventilation

All kitchens, bathrooms and toilets must have a window. If it is impossible to provide a window there must be a fan.

Washing facilities

For every 5 people living in a HMO there must be:

1. A bathroom or shower room containing a sink
2. A separate toilet

If it is impossible to provide a sink in the bathroom or shower room the landlord must provide a sink in every bedroom.

Cooking facilities

The type of cooking facilities your landlord must provide depends on the number of people living in your accommodation. If fewer than five people live in the accommodation your landlord must provide a cooking appliance with:

1. Four rings or hotplates
2. A grill
3. An oven

If between six and 10 people live in your accommodation your landlord must provide two cooking appliances. A shared kitchen should not contain more than two cookers.  

Important HMO Licence Requirement

From 1 October 2018, a HMO Licence is only required for all HMOs occupied by five or more persons living in two or more separate households (this means two or more unrelated people sharing). Below these numbers the HMO does not require a license, but it may still need to be registered with the local authority as an HMO. A registered HMO is not the same as a licenced HMO.

Some councils however have brought in 'additional licencing' provisions either across their jurisdiction or within specific areas, lowering the occupancy threshold that requires an HMO to be licenced.  This has been as low as 3 or more households in one premises have to apply for a HMO licence.  

A HMO that needs licencing

From 1 October 2018, a HMO Licence is required for all HMOs occupied by five or more persons living in two or more separate households. Below this the HMO does not require a licence.  

The Local Authority typically grants a licence (valid for five years) where it is satisfied:

1. the house is reasonably suitable for occupation as an HMO;
2. the management arrangements are satisfactory;
3. and the licensee and manager are fit and proper persons.  
4. and applicant is the most appropriate person to hold the licence.

The following mandatory conditions are be applied to all licences:

1. to provide copies of gas safety certificates annually
2. to keep electrical appliances and furniture safe
3. to keep smoke alarms in working order
4. to provide tenants with written licence or tenancy agreements.

Further Information

1. Local authorities are under a statutory duty to licence larger higher risk HMOs and also have the discretion to extend licensing to other types of HMO. The licensing requirements are intended to ensure that standards are decent for persons living independently in HMOs, especially in those HMOs where several individual occupiers share basic facilities. In order to ensure decent standards, licensable HMOs will be subject to an inspection by an environmental health officer.  
2. HMOs with five or more occupiers will need to be licensed. The licence has a financial cost and is typically valid for 5 years. A Council typically grants a licence where it is satisfied:
   - the house is reasonably suitable for occupation as an HMO;
   - the management arrangements are satisfactory;
   - the licensee and manager are fit and proper persons;
   - and the applicant is the most appropriate person to hold the licence.  
3. The following mandatory conditions are be applied to all licensees:
   - to provide copies of gas safety certificates annually
   - to keep electrical appliances and furniture safe
   - to keep smoke alarms in working order
   - to provide residents with a written tenancy agreement.

Applying for a Licence

If a licence is required (i.e. there are five or more bed spaces) the partner organisation applies at their own cost.  

Licences are issued to individuals not properties. The proposed licensee is the landlord - the representative of the partner organisation.

When a licence application is made there is a consultation period, during which notice is served to the property owner (Green Pastures CBS Ltd) and other interested parties.

All applications are online.

Article 4 – What is it?

Background

Historically, in planning terms, houses and flats were classified as class 'C3 dwelling-houses', irrespective of whether they were used by families or shared by unrelated persons. 

On 6 April 2010 privately-rented shared houses, with up to six unrelated tenants, were reclassified under a new planning use class 'C4 Houses in Multiple Occupation' (HMO's). 



Currently changes of use between these two use classes (C3 dwelling-houses and C4 HMO's) are not subject to planning controls. However, the Government has given individual Local Authorities the power, through the use of an Article 4 Direction, to introduce controls locally where there is a need to manage the balance of dwellings and high concentrations of shared houses.

 Please note that HMO's of seven unrelated tenants or more already require planning permission.

Article 4 Directions

Article 4 Directions are a means by which a local planning authority can bring certain types of development, or changes of use,  which would normally be permitted (i.e. not require an application for planning permission) within planning control.

Planning Use Classes

1. Use Class C3 (Dwelling Houses) – These generally include self contained houses or flats occupied by a single person, a couple or a family.
2. Use Class C4 (Small HMOs) – These include self contained houses and flats shared by between 3 and 6 unrelated people. 'C4' HMOs are small shared dwelling houses occupied by between three and six unrelated individuals, as their only or main residence, who share basic amenities such as a kitchen or bathroom.

Bedsits and larger shared houses and flats, those occupied by more than 6 unrelated people, do not fall within a Planning Use Class.  Planning permission is required for changes to these uses.

Example: Basingstoke Council

Following a public consultation Basingstoke council introduced an Article 4 direction in 2011.  

The proposal is aimed at keeping a balance between the need for this type of housing to be available in the borough and ensuring that changes to the kind of housing does not have an impact on established communities.  The areas were chosen to address specific concerns in Basingstoke town centre and avoid any knock-on effect for surrounding areas. The area it covers is substantial: see map.  

So when looking for properties in Basingstoke we had to be careful about where to look and for looking for properties already qualifying as HMO i.e. no change of use. If we bought a house before change of use we would have risked buying a house we couldn’t use to house the homeless.

When applying for a new licence the council were particularly concerned about the number of car parking spaces (1 at a 5 bed house) as in a family home you might reasonably expect 1-2 cars, whereas in an HMO you’d expect potentially 1 per person.  

The consideration regarding the number of floors has been removed.