Certain types of property are classed as Houses in Multiple Occupation. This can include houses or buildings converted into separate households, bedsits or flats for tenants.
Under the changes in the Housing Act 2004, if you let a property which is one of the following types it is a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO):
- An entire house or flat which is let to 5 or more tenants who form 2 or more households and who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.
- A house which has been converted entirely into bedsits or other non self-contained accommodation and which is let to five or more tenants who form two or more households and who share kitchen, bathroom or toilet facilities.
- A converted house which contains one or more flats which are not entirely self contained (ie the flat does not contain within it a kitchen, bathroom and toilet) and which is occupied by 5 or more tenants who form two or more households.
- A building which is 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.
- In order to be an HMO the property must be used as the only or main residence of the tenants and it should be used solely or mainly to house tenants. Properties let to students and migrant workers will be treated as their only or main residence and the same will apply to properties which are used as domestic refuges