HMO stands for house in multiple occupation. Your home is an HMO when at least 3 people from 2 or more separate households live there and share a toilet, bathroom or kitchen, a definition set by section 254 of the Housing Act 2004. HMOs with 5 or more occupants need a council licence, and tenants of unlicensed HMOs may claim back up to 2 years' rent.
This guide explains what counts as an HMO, when a licence is needed, the standards your landlord must meet, and the remedies you may have when they don't.
What does HMO mean?
An HMO is a property let to at least 3 people who form 2 or more households and share at least one basic amenity: a toilet, personal washing facilities or cooking facilities. The definition sits in section 254 of the Housing Act 2004, which lawyers call the standard test. Shared houses, bedsits and some converted buildings all count.
A household means a single person or members of the same family living together. Section 258 of the Housing Act 2004 treats married couples, civil partners and couples living together as one household, along with relatives: parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin. Half-relations and step-children count as full relations.
So 3 friends sharing a house with one kitchen form 3 households and live in an HMO. A couple plus one friend makes 2 households and 3 people, still an HMO. A family of 4 renting together is 1 household, so their home is not an HMO however many of them there are.
The property must also be the occupants' only or main residence, and rent (or some other consideration) must be payable by at least one of them. Purpose-built student halls have separate rules, but a privately rented student house share is typically an HMO.
Does my landlord need an HMO licence?
A licence is mandatory across England when the HMO is occupied by 5 or more people forming 2 or more households who share facilities. That threshold has applied since 1 October 2018, when the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Description) (England) Order 2018 came into force and removed the old rule that only caught buildings of 3 or more storeys. Storeys no longer matter.
Smaller HMOs can need a licence too. Councils have two extra powers under the Housing Act 2004:
| Licence type | When it applies | Legal basis | |---|---|---| | Mandatory | 5+ occupants, 2+ households, shared facilities, anywhere in England | Housing Act 2004 Part 2 and SI 2018/221 | | Additional | Smaller HMOs (often 3 or 4 sharers) in areas the council designates | Housing Act 2004, section 56 | | Selective | Every privately rented home in a designated area, HMO or not | Housing Act 2004, section 80 |
Additional licensing lets a council bring smaller HMOs into licensing where it decides a large share of them are badly managed. Selective licensing goes further and can cover all private lettings in an area with low housing demand or persistent anti-social behaviour. Many cities, including Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham, run one or both schemes in parts of their patch, so a 3-person house share can still need a licence depending on the postcode.
How do I check if my HMO is licensed?
Every council must keep a register of the HMO licences it has granted, and section 232 of the Housing Act 2004 requires that register to be open to public inspection. Most councils publish it online as a searchable list or spreadsheet. Search your council's site for "HMO register" or ask its private sector housing team directly.
Check your council's register here if you rent in one of these cities:
If your address should be licensed and isn't on the register, don't assume the register is out of date. Ask the council to confirm in writing whether a licence or a valid application exists. That answer decides whether a rent repayment order is on the table, so keep the email.
What must an HMO landlord do by law?
Whoever manages an HMO must meet the duties in the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006, whether or not the property needs a licence. The duties cover fire safety, water, gas and electricity, shared areas and waste, and breaching them is a criminal offence punishable by a fine.
The main duties, by regulation number:
- Display the manager's name, address and phone number in the property and give them to every household (regulation 3)
- Keep escape routes clear, maintain fire alarms and equipment, and protect occupiers from injury (regulation 4)
- Keep the water supply and drainage in good working order, with tanks clean and covered (regulation 5)
- Hold a current annual gas safety certificate and have the electrical installation inspected at least every 5 years (regulation 6)
- Keep shared areas, handrails, stairs, lighting and ventilation clean, safe and working, including yards and gardens (regulation 7)
- Hand over each letting clean at the start of the tenancy and keep its fixtures in repair (regulation 8)
- Provide enough bins and proper rubbish disposal arrangements (regulation 9)
Licensed HMOs carry conditions on top, and the licence itself caps how many people may live in the property. If your landlord tells you the 2006 Regulations don't apply because the house is "too small to be an HMO", that's wrong: the management duties follow the section 254 definition, not the licensing threshold.
What are the minimum room sizes in an HMO?
Licensed HMOs in England must meet national minimum sleeping-room sizes: 6.51 square metres for one person aged over 10, 10.22 square metres for two people over 10, and 4.64 square metres for a child under 10. Any room under 4.64 square metres cannot be used as a bedroom at all.
These floors were set by the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) (England) Regulations 2018 and apply to licences granted or renewed on or after 1 October 2018. Councils write them into the licence as conditions, and some set higher local standards, so check the licence entry on the register for your address. Sloping ceilings complicate the measurement; councils typically count only floor space with usable head height, so ask for the council's measurement policy if a loft room looks tight.
Can I claim rent back if my HMO is unlicensed?
Yes, this may be the strongest remedy in tenant law. If your landlord operates an HMO that should be licensed and isn't, you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) for a rent repayment order under sections 40 to 46 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016. Since 1 May 2026 the order can cover rent you paid over a period of up to 2 years while the offence was being committed, doubled from the old 12-month cap by the Renters' Rights Act 2025.
Key points, all changed or confirmed on 1 May 2026:
- You apply to the tribunal yourself; the landlord does not need a criminal conviction first
- You must apply within 2 years of the offence (previously 12 months)
- Superior landlords can now be ordered to repay, so a rent-to-rent setup no longer shields the property owner
- The tribunal weighs the landlord's conduct, financial circumstances, and any previous convictions, financial penalties or rent repayment orders
The landlord has defences. There's no offence if a valid licence application or temporary exemption notification was pending, and since 1 May 2026 a reasonable-excuse defence applies. Tribunals also often award less than the maximum, so treat 2 years' rent as the ceiling rather than the likely figure. Our rent repayment orders guide walks through the application and the evidence that tends to matter.
Several housemates can apply together, and each claims the rent they actually paid. On a £520-a-month room, 2 years is £12,480 per tenant, which is why unlicensed landlords settle these cases more often than they fight them.
What do I lose if my HMO is unlicensed?
You don't lose your tenancy rights, but you do lose the checks a licence brings, and you gain remedies against the landlord. Running a licensable HMO without a licence is a criminal offence under section 72(1) of the Housing Act 2004, carrying an unlimited fine, while you may claim rent back.
| | Licensed HMO | Unlicensed HMO (licence required) | |---|---|---| | Council vetting | Landlord passed a fit-and-proper-person test | No vetting has happened | | Room sizes | 6.51 sq m minimum enforced as a licence condition | No licence conditions in force | | Public register | Address listed and checkable | Missing from the register | | Rent repayment order | Not available for a licensing offence | Up to 2 years' rent since 1 May 2026 | | Landlord penalty | None, if conditions are met | Unlimited fine, or a civil penalty of up to £40,000 per offence | | 2006 Management Regulations | Apply | Still apply in full |
The £40,000 civil penalty figure applies from 1 May 2026, raised from £30,000. Councils can impose it as an alternative to prosecution, and repeat offenders can face banning orders. None of this affects your obligation to pay rent in the meantime; withholding rent because the HMO is unlicensed typically puts you in arrears and hands the landlord a possession ground.
What changed under the Renters' Rights Act 2025?
2026 update - Renters' Rights Act 2025: New repair duties now apply to private landlords. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 extends the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector and brings in Awaab's Law, which sets strict timescales for landlords to investigate and fix serious hazards such as damp and mould. If a landlord ignores a dangerous defect you can report it to your council's environmental health team, and where the problem is serious the council can require the work to be done. The Act is being phased in across 2026. See our Renters' Rights Act 2025 guide.
For HMO tenants specifically, the Act's rent repayment order reforms took effect on 1 May 2026: the maximum award rose from 12 months' to 2 years' rent, the application window stretched from 12 months to 2 years, and superior landlords came into scope. New offences were added too, including knowingly or recklessly misusing a possession ground. The same commencement date raised the civil penalty ceiling for housing offences to £40,000.
Start with the landlord or managing agent in writing, then escalate to the council, which holds the enforcement powers. A typical order:
- Report the problem to the landlord or agent by email and keep a copy. Allow a reasonable time to fix it: days for a broken boiler or fire alarm, longer for structural work.
- No response? Contact your council's private sector housing or environmental health team. Officers can inspect, score hazards, and serve an improvement notice requiring the work within a set period.
- Check the licence position at the same time using the council register. If the HMO should be licensed and isn't, report it to the council's licensing team and consider a tribunal application within the 2-year window.
- If the landlord ignores an improvement notice, that failure is itself an offence that can support a rent repayment order, on top of council prosecution.
Keep everything in writing and photograph problems with dates. Councils prioritise cases with clear evidence, and the tribunal decides rent repayment cases largely on the paper trail.
If you're planning to leave a shared house, our guide to moving out of an HMO covers notice and check-out, and there's more on shared housing in our HMO advice hub.
One final check before you go: landlords who skip HMO licensing often skip deposit rules too, and if your deposit wasn't protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days you may be entitled to compensation of between 1 and 3 times the deposit, so it's worth taking a minute to check your deposit.