HMO Licensing: Tenant Rights in Multiple Occupation

Data last checked on 8 October 2026.

Checked against GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk. Edited by Steven Butler.

All the pages checked

A house in multiple occupation (HMO) is a property rented out by at least 3 people who are not from 1 household but share facilities like the bathroom and kitchen. In England or Wales a landlord needs a licence for a large HMO, and for offences from 1 May 2026 you may claim up to two years' rent back if they have none.

Key points

✓A large HMO in England or Wales is rented to 5 or more people who form more than 1 household, where some or all tenants share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities and at least 1 tenant pays rent.
✓Even if a property is smaller and rented to fewer people, a licence may still be needed depending on the area, so check with the council.
✓In England, an HMO licence must include conditions on bedroom size: 6.51 square metres for one person aged over 10, 10.22 square metres for two people aged over 10 and 4.64 square metres for one person aged under 10.
✓If an HMO is required to be licensed but is not, an offence is committed by the person managing it and by the landlord.
✓A rent repayment order allows you to receive up to two years' worth of rent from a landlord who has committed certain housing related offences, but for offences committed before 1 May 2026 the maximum is one year's rent.

What is an HMO?

GOV.UK says a house in multiple occupation is a property rented out by at least 3 people who are not from 1 'household' (for example a family) but share facilities like the bathroom and kitchen. It is sometimes called a house share.

GOV.UK's guidance for tenants says a house is an HMO if all these conditions apply:

Yes: it is shared by at least three people from two or more households
Yes: it is their main home and the property is only used for that purpose
Yes: they pay rent
Yes: they share facilities like bathrooms and kitchens or the accommodation is missing a basic facility such as a kitchen or bathroom

The criteria to meet the self-contained flat test are the same as the standard test, but they apply to individual flats.

Under section 258 of the Housing Act 2004, people are regarded as not forming a single household unless they are all members of the same family. A person is a member of the same family as another person if:

they are married to, or civil partners of, each other, or live together as if they were a married couple or civil partners
one of them is a relative of the other
one of them is, or is a relative of, one member of a couple and the other is a relative of the other member of the couple

In the Act, a relative means a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin. A relationship of the half-blood is treated as a relationship of the whole blood, and the stepchild of a person is treated as their child.

Types of HMO licensing

There are three types of licensing scheme, and two of them relate to HMOs:

Mandatory HMO licensing applies to all properties in England occupied by five or more people from two or more households
Additional HMO licensing: where a scheme is in place, houses with three or four people from two or more households must be licensed
Selective licensing: where a scheme is in place, all privately rented houses in a certain area must be licensed

Additional licensing and selective licensing schemes are brought in by local councils and last for up to five years. They do not exist in every council area, and schemes sometimes only cover part of the council area and sometimes the whole area. GOV.UK says a landlord must have a licence if they rent out a large HMO in England or Wales. A licence is valid for a maximum of 5 years, and a landlord needs a separate licence for each HMO they run.

To check if your home is licensed, note that every local housing authority must establish and maintain a register of licences, and the contents of the register must be available at the authority's head office for inspection by members of the public at all reasonable times. GOV.UK's guidance for tenants says some councils have a public register of licensed properties and others do not, and that if your property is not listed this does not necessarily mean your landlord does not have the correct licence.

In Scotland, GOV.UK says a house in multiple occupation is a property rented out by at least 3 (unrelated) people who share the bathroom or toilet and kitchen. In Northern Ireland, GOV.UK says tenants must be from more than one household for it to be an HMO, and that you must get a licence to let out your property as an HMO.

HMO standards your landlord must meet

Schedule 4 to the Housing Act 2004 sets out conditions that a licence must include. Where the house is in England, the licence must require the licence holder to:

produce a gas safety certificate obtained within the last 12 months to the council every year, if gas is supplied to the house
keep electrical appliances and furniture they provide in a safe condition, and ensure every electrical installation is in proper working order and safe for continued use
ensure a smoke alarm is installed on each storey with a room used wholly or partly as living accommodation, and keep each alarm in proper working order
ensure a carbon monoxide alarm is installed in any room used wholly or partly as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker, and keep it in proper working order
supply the occupiers with a written statement of the terms on which they occupy the house

GOV.UK says the regulations require that landlords have the electrics in their rented properties checked at least every 5 years by a properly qualified person.

Also in England, the licence must include conditions requiring the licence holder to ensure that the floor area of any room used as sleeping accommodation is not less than:

6.51 square metres for one person aged over 10
10.22 square metres for two persons aged over 10
4.64 square metres for one person aged under 10

A room with a floor area of less than 4.64 square metres must not be used as sleeping accommodation. Any part of the floor area of a room where the ceiling height is less than 1.5 metres is not taken into account.

Time to comply with the room size conditions. For the first licence granted on or after 1 October 2018, if the council considers the licence holder is not complying with them when the licence is granted, it must notify them which conditions and the period within which to comply, and that period must not exceed 18 months from the date of the notification.

The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 place duties on the manager of an HMO, including that the manager must ensure:

all means of escape from fire are kept free from obstruction and maintained in good order and repair
any fire fighting equipment and fire alarms are maintained in good working order
all common parts of the HMO are maintained in good and clean decorative repair, maintained in a safe and working condition, and kept reasonably clear from obstruction

The council may serve an overcrowding notice on an HMO that is not required to be licensed if it considers that an excessive number of persons is being, or is likely to be, accommodated in it. A person who contravenes an overcrowding notice commits an offence.

What happens if your HMO is unlicensed?

If an HMO is required to be licensed under Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004 but is not licensed, an offence is committed by any person having control of or managing the HMO, and by any person who is the landlord or licensor of someone occupying it. It is a defence that a notification or an application for a licence had been duly made and was still effective, or that the person had a reasonable excuse.

GOV.UK's licensing page for landlords says they could get an unlimited fine for renting out an unlicensed HMO
In England, the council may impose a financial penalty of not more than £40,000 instead of prosecuting, if satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person's conduct amounts to a relevant housing offence
The council must make an interim management order if the HMO is required to be licensed but is not, and it considers either that there is no reasonable prospect of its being licensed in the near future or that the health and safety condition is satisfied
You may be able to apply for a rent repayment order, explained below

Rent Repayment Orders (RROs)

A rent repayment order allows you to receive up to two years' worth of rent from a landlord who has committed certain housing related offences. For offences committed before 1 May 2026 different rules apply: the maximum amount repayable is one year's rent rather than two years' rent, and the tenant must apply within one year of the offence being committed, instead of two years.

Check whether an offence was committed

You can apply for an RRO if you think you can prove your landlord has committed one of the listed offences. They include offences in relation to unlicensed HMOs (section 72(1) of the Housing Act 2004), offences in relation to unlicensed houses (section 95(1)), failure to comply with an improvement notice or prohibition order, and illegal eviction and harassment of occupiers. Your landlord does not need to have been convicted of or given a financial penalty for the offence, but you must prove every part of the offence beyond reasonable doubt.

Apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)

Complete the RRO1 form and post or email it to the relevant Tribunal Regional Office. The tribunal will ask you to pay an application fee, and you will also have to pay a fee for a hearing if the tribunal schedules one. The amount of the fee is stated in section 10 of the RRO1 form, and you may be eligible to get help with paying the fee.

Gather evidence

You need to send a copy of your tenancy or licence agreement, details of rent payments in a simple table or spreadsheet, and proof of rent payments such as bank statements. If you think your home is an unlicensed HMO, you can ask your council whether your home is licensable and whether it currently has a licence.

The tribunal decides the amount

The final amount is decided by the tribunal, up to two years' worth of the rent you paid, depending on the conduct of the landlord, the conduct of the tenant, and any past convictions, financial penalties or RROs. If your landlord has committed the same offence before and had formal enforcement action taken against them for it, the tribunal must make the RRO for the maximum amount, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

You cannot apply for an RRO for any rent paid through Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, though your council can apply for an RRO for that rent.

An RRO cannot be made against:

No: a letting agent or managing agent

GOV.UK says you can find legal advice or contact Citizens Advice or Shelter. It also says your landlord cannot evict you because you have applied for an RRO.

Reporting an unlicensed HMO

If you believe your home is an unlicensed HMO:

Check the register and ask your council

If you do not find your property on the register, email your council, giving your address, the dates you lived at the property and the number of people you shared the house with who are from a different household. Ask whether your home is licensable and whether it currently has a licence.

Ask for the information the council holds

If your council has any information relevant to your application or the amount the landlord may be ordered to pay you, they should consider providing you with it. You may need to speak to your council to prove your landlord has committed certain offences.

From 1 May 2026 you can no longer be evicted using the 'no fault' section 21 process, even if your tenancy agreement says you can. It is a crime for your landlord to harass you or try to remove you from a property without following the correct process.

We have not covered the Welsh rules on room sizes, financial penalties or rent repayment orders on this page.

Where to go next

Frequently asked questions

My landlord says the property does not need a licence, how do I check?

Every local housing authority must establish and maintain a register of licences, and its contents must be available at the authority's head office for inspection by members of the public at all reasonable times. If you do not find your property on the register, email your council, giving your address, the dates you lived at the property and the number of people you shared the house with who are from a different household. Ask whether your home is licensable and whether it currently has a licence.

Can my landlord evict me for reporting them to the council?

I paid cash, can I still get a Rent Repayment Order?

GOV.UK says you can apply for an RRO no matter how you paid your rent. If you paid your rent in cash, you can use bank statements that show cash withdrawals as evidence. To support evidence of cash payments, you can also use communications such as emails or WhatsApp messages, for example where you and your landlord arrange collection of the cash.

Does HMO licensing apply in Scotland?

Yes, GOV.UK has a separate page on getting an HMO licence in Scotland. It says a licence usually lasts 3 years, and that you can be fined up to £50,000 for renting out an unlicensed HMO. You contact your council to request an HMO licence.

Related guides

Found this useful? Link to it

If you run a site, write an article, or help others with their rights, please link to this guide, it helps more people find free, reliable guidance.

https://www.knowyourrightsuk.com/housing/licensing-hmos

Know Your Rights UK. "HMO Licensing: Tenant Rights in Multiple Occupation." Know Your Rights UK, https://www.knowyourrightsuk.com/housing/licensing-hmos