Living in a House in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)

Houses in multiple occupation definition:

Your home is a house in multiple occupation (HMO) if both of the following apply:

• at least 3 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household
• you share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants

Your home is a large HMO if both of the following apply:

• at least 5 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household
• you share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants

A household is either a single person or members of the same family who live together. A family includes people who are:

• married or living together - including people in same-sex relationships
• relatives or half-relatives, for example grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings
• step-parents and step-children

How to check your home is licensed

All propertied that are registered as HMOs with the council are listed on the public register, this can be found here.

Advice for tenants

If you rent a property from a landlord that is convicted of failing to license that property as an HMO as required, the landlord may have to pay you back any rent you paid over the period that property should have been licensed, up to a maximum twelve months. You'd have to apply for this through the Residential Property Tribunal.