What Landlords Must Know About HMO Mandatory Licensing

The mandatory HMO licensing regime has been in place since 2006, but significant changes introduced in October 2018 caught many landlords off guard. Here is what every London landlord needs to know.

The October 2018 change

Before October 2018, mandatory HMO licensing only applied to properties that were three or more storeys high. This meant many larger properties with five or more tenants were unlicensed — and legal.

The Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) (England) Regulations 2018 removed the storey requirement entirely. From October 2018, any property rented to five or more people from two or more households requires a mandatory HMO licence — regardless of the number of floors.

This change brought an estimated 160,000 additional properties into the mandatory licensing regime across England.

Who counts as a household?

A household means a single person, or members of the same family living together. This includes married or cohabiting couples and their children, as well as relatives such as siblings, parents, or grandparents.

Five unrelated university students sharing a house constitute five separate households. A family of five all living together are a single household and would not need an HMO licence on household count alone.

Penalties

Non-compliance with mandatory HMO licensing is a serious matter. Councils can impose civil penalties of up to £30,000. Tenants can apply for Rent Repayment Orders to recover up to 12 months of rent. And a criminal conviction can lead to an unlimited fine and a banning order.