New Mandatory Licensing HMO Definition
The Government have extended Mandatory HMO Licensing. These changes come into force today, 1stOctober 2018with the introduction of The Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Description) (England) Order 2018.
From today, excluding purpose-built flats in larger blocks of three flats or more, mandatory licensing will be required for:
- all HMOs (House in Multiple Occupation) in a building that are occupied by five persons or more forming two or more households, sharing amenities; regardless of the number of storeys in that building– previously mandatory licensing only applied to properties of three or more storeys.
AND
- all self-contained FMOs (Flat in Multiple Occupation) with 5 or more occupants, forming two or more households, sharing amenities within a converted building or a purpose-built block of no more than two flats.
New HMO licensing conditions
In addition to the Prescribed Description Order, a second statutory instrument, the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) (England) Regulations 2018 introduce new mandatory licensing conditions and these are now also in force from today. The new mandatory conditions relate to minimum sleeping room sizes and waste disposal requirements.
Mandatory national minimum sleeping room sizes: (a room is used as sleeping accommodation if it is normally used as a bedroom, whether or not it is also used for other purposes):
- the floor area of any room in a HMO used as sleeping accommodation by 1 person aged over 10 years is not less than 6.51m²
- the floor area of any room in a HMO used as sleeping accommodation by 2 persons aged over 10 years is not less than 10.22m²
- the floor area of any room in a HMO used as sleeping accommodation by 1 person aged under 10 years is not less than 4.64m²
- any room in a HMO with a floor area of less than 4.64m² is not used as sleeping accommodation
- floor area with a ceiling height of less than 1.5m cannot be counted in any total floor area calculation.
NOTE: Councils have the power to require larger room sizes by setting their own HMO Standards, which will need to be met over and above the mandatory national minimum sleeping room sizes, when making a HMO license application in such Boroughs to comply with their licensing conditions.
Waste disposal provision requirements: landlords of licensed HMOs must comply with any relevant local authority waste scheme relating to the storage and disposal of household waste at the HMO pending collection.
