What to know about minimum HMO room size regulations

Welcome to our room sizing guide, we hope you enjoy it.

As you may know, councils across the UK are bringing more and more licensing and planning regulations, a key part of this are rules and regulations around how councils measure space within lettable rooms and facilities. 

Losing the use of a bedroom can really affect the rental price of a property, so we have taken a bit of a dive in to see how we can help make sure this doesn’t happen.

We have drawn up a helpful guide to make understanding the various complexities a little easier for you.

Room sizing tips

Measuring a room

Councils measure something commonly called usable space that can cause a lot of confusion.

Things that can trip you up when measuring are…

– Angles in a room

– Small walkways in a room not being counted

– Small spaces near chimneys not being counted

– Ensuites aren’t counted

– Fitted wardrobes aren’t counted

Quality of plans

General estate agent plans can cause a lot of issues, so it’s always best to get the right expert to measure. 

Things that can trip you up here are…

Often people that do estate agent plans do only 2 of the longest wall measurements or even if they take more when the digital

Not having ceiling heights on the plans.

Not having room sizes for kitchens and other usual rooms.

Ceiling heights and lofts

Rooms that have a ceiling height arent accepted below 2.1m, this can get quite complicated with varied room sizes so ask an expert if you are stuck.

Also to note that when in an attic room where the roof slopes down, anything less than 1.5m isn’t accepted. Always consult the council’s local rules.

Council Local rules Vs Government Rules

Believe it or not, this is actually where the fun starts! The government rules are set in stone, but the council rules aren’t. Essentially it’s up for debate as the property should be assessed as a whole, though this becomes confusing when you have a sea of grey advice so councils create some black and white and try to stick to it. Unless it makes a big financial difference sometimes it isn’t worth arguing, it is just how far you want to take it and what it’s worth to you, as ever pick your battles.

Remember if it’s above the government standards then the property can be analysed as a whole so everything is negotiable, it’s just how far you want to take it and what it’s worth to you. 

Cooking facilities and amenity standards

Every council is different with this too, and again what you see in black and white isn’t always what will be accepted. Generally, long as you a providing a 4 ring cooker, oven and sink with washing machine this is good per 5 tenants.

General Requirements

Here is the general guide for the floor plan and room sizing requirements in Lambeth Council as an example.

What to look out for here is understanding the use of your property properly so pick the correct sizing requirements.

It is common to misinterpret the Bedsit HMO meaning, this is generally where there are locks on the bedroom doors and/or individual contracts in place for each room. As you can see from the table it is clearly laid out for this type of accommodation with or without but in many councils it isn’t as clear.

Separate living rooms, these are rarely required as a hard and fast rule as having a kitchen with dining facilities is acceptable and living facilities in this area too is very common.

As you can see from the size requirements they are well above the government standard of 6.52m2 for single and 10.2m2 for a double room. As above there is always room to negotiate though you best have a good shared kitchen/dining/living space to show the council the property is suitable as whole to house the amount of tenants and households you are looking for.

Example property address:

Larkhall Rise, London, SW4 6EZ 

Councils measure something commonly called usable space, especially in licensing processes, this can cause a lot of confusion.

What to look out for

Firstly, to note, the plans required for Planning and licensing are very different, planning requirements being more strict and asking for more detailed, expensive and complex scale floor plans, we will cover this in another area. 

Though one quick point to note, just because you pass licensing space measurements does not mean you pass planning space measurements, that’s right, even in the same council the two departments don’t agree on what ‘good’ looks like. In article 4 areas this can apply to small HMOs of 3 to 6 tenants sharing, so keep your wits about you at all times!

Mistakes happen!

Remember that councils don’t always get things right, this applies to everything from room sizing, to safety, to occupancy. You should have your own expert on your side and an expert in licensing is an Environmental Health Officer Accredited by the CIEH, some simple advice or reporting at the start of your journey will save you huge amounts in the long run.

If you want to instruct an expert to help you, feel free to get in contact with our sister services company HMO Services www.hmoserviceslondon.com