You will need to know whether or not you have got an HMO or not. There are some relatively necessary penalties. For instance:
- All HMO landlords should adjust to the particular administration rules (and will be prosecuted and fined in the event that they don’t), and
- The property might must be licensed.
The foundations on HMOs modified in 2006 when the Housing Act 2004 got here into power, together with a brand new definition. That is set out in part 254 onwards. It’s relatively an extended definition and I’m not going to attempt to summarise it right here (the Housing Act is on-line anyway, so you’ll be able to go and learn it for your self).
Forms of HMO and ‘households’
There are numerous forms of HMO (together with totally different guidelines for studios), however as far as rented homes are involved, it’s worthwhile to know {that a} property will probably be an HMO whether it is let to three or extra tenants who kind 2 or extra ‘households’ and who share services equivalent to a kitchen, rest room or rest room.
A ‘family’ is mainly a household unit, which incorporates single {couples}, half-blood family members and step and adopted youngsters. It additionally consists of live-in workers equivalent to a nanny or au pair, or a carer.
What the act doesn’t say, although, is that it will depend on (or is affected by) the kind of tenancy settlement you have got (or occupation contract in case your property is in Wales).
Landlords who’re letting out properties to a number of single individuals and are making all of them signal the one tenancy settlement within the hope that they’ll keep away from the HMO guidelines are simply deceiving themselves. If there are three or extra tenants and they’re unrelated, the tenancy is nearly actually an HMO.
So, in case you have tenants coming and going at totally different instances, it might most likely be much more handy in case you gave them their very own tenancy settlement for his or her room and shared use of the frequent components. Significantly in case your solely purpose for having the one tenancy settlement is to keep away from the HMO laws.
Discover out extra
If you wish to discover out extra about HMOs and the legislation referring to them, there’s various info and steering on my Landlord Regulation web site, (together with a free course).
