Information on Houses in Multiple Occupation and how to apply for a property licence.
A HMO is a residential property occupied by people who are not from the same family (including half relatives, common law partners and stepchildren). This is their only home and they pay rent to live there or the accommodation is provided as part of their employment. They may share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.
Some HMOs must have a property licence, as shown below. However, if a property is not licensable, our private sector housing team will still need to inspect it and it will need to be up to standard for fire safety and amenities.
Register of licensed HMOs in Aldershot and Farnborough
You can view our full list of HMOs on our register of HMOs page.
Report a HMO
If you live in or know of someone who lives in an HMO that you believe should be licensed or you have any concerns about an HMO, please complete our form below:
When an HMO needs a property licence
All properties that are let to five or more people, living as two or more households, must be licensed. This came into effect in October 2018.
Running an HMO without a property licence is a criminal offence with fines of up to £20,000 or you may be liable to a civil penalty of up to £30,000. Please see the Housing Civil Penalty Policy for more information. The court may also order you to repay rent to a tenant for the time that the property has been without a licence.
How to apply for a property licence
You can apply online using the GOV.UK website.
Or you can download the application form below, complete it and return it to us with the fee.
Application for House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence
Guidance on how to apply for a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)
Property licence fees
| Number of people living in property | Fee for a five-year property licence |
|---|---|
| 5 | £1,040 |
| 6 to 10 | £1,305 |
| 11 to 15 | £1,558 |
| 16 to 20 | £1,825 |
| 21+ | £2,079 |
Babies and children are counted as people for the fee calculation.
Reduction in fees
If you are a member of any of the following landlords' associations, you will be entitled to a reduction in fee of £75:
- Southern Private Landlords' Association (SPLA)
- National Landlords' Association (NLA)
- Any other association affiliated to the National Federation of Residential Landlords (NFRL)
Make changes to your property licence
You can change a HMO property licence on the GOV.UK website.
Or you can download the application form below, complete it and return it to us with the fee.
Application to vary a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence
Guidance on how to vary a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence
Renew your property licence
If you have an HMO licence that is due to expire you will need to apply to renew it.
If there has been no material change to the original licence, you can use the application form. A material change might be a change to the number of occupants, change in layout of the property or the provision of further amenities. See our 'How to apply for a property licence' section above for more details.
Application to renew a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)
Guidance on how to renew a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence
However, if the owner, licence holder, manager or the internal layout, number of occupants or amenities have changed, you will need to complete a full application which is available above.
Applying for a licence - what you need to know
The house
To apply for a licence, the house must:
- Be suitable for occupation by the number of people on the application
- Have adequate facilities for the number of people on the application
- Be managed satisfactorily
- Have adequate fireproofing
The licence holder
- The proposed licence holder must be a fit and proper person
What you will need to show us
You will need to show us the following:
- That appliances and furnishings are safe to use
- A plan of the property, including the room size and use of the room
- A landlord's gas safety certificate
- Relevant planning and building control documents
- A current inspection report from a competent electrician
- BS5839 test reports for the fire detection system (if applicable)
- BS5266 test reports for the emergency lighting system (if applicable)
New HMO licence conditions
From 1 October 2018, new national minimum room size standards will be introduced.
| Occupation | Room size |
|---|---|
| One person aged over ten years | not less than 6.51sqm |
| Two people aged over ten years | not less than 10.22 sqm |
| One person under the age of ten years | not less than 4.64 sqm |
Fire safety in HMOs
A landlord is responsible for the safety of his tenants and must carry out a risk assessment for fire. We expect landlords to provide adequate fire safety measures to protect tenants and these will be different for each house.
Standards in HMOs
All HMOs must have enough bathrooms, toilets and kitchens for the number of people living there. The house must be in good repair and well managed.
We have produced a guide to HMO standards Guidance on HMO standards to help you. We are reviewing this guide, so if you have any queries please contact our private sector housing team using the contact details on this page.
If you are considering setting up a new licensable HMO, you will need to discuss this change with the Planning team at Rushmoor as you may need to make a planning application for change of use of the property from a residential property to a house in multiple occupation.
Find out more about HMO standards, fire safety standards and the law
Schedule of amenity provision required for House in Multiple Occupation
Contact us