A House in Multiple Occupation is the legal classification for shared residential properties where multiple unrelated people live and share common facilities. The classification matters because it triggers specific regulatory requirements under housing law that do not apply to single-household tenancies.

Who Lives in an HMO

The most typical occupants of an HMO are young professionals or students sharing a house, where each person has their own bedroom but shares kitchen, bathroom, and living areas. The key requirement is that the occupants form more than one household. A household is defined as a family group or a single person. So three friends sharing a house are three separate households; a couple sharing with a friend is two households. The three-from-two-households definition is the statutory minimum for HMO classification in most cases.

Bedsits and Converted Properties

HMOs also include converted properties where individual rooms or studio units have been created from what was previously a single dwelling, with shared or self-contained bathrooms, and multiple separate tenancy agreements. A converted house with five bedsit rooms, each let separately, is an HMO regardless of whether the occupants share any facilities, as the conversion of a single dwelling into multiple units of accommodation creates an HMO by virtue of the structural arrangements.

Landlord Obligations

HMO landlords have obligations that go beyond those for standard single-household landlords. These include obtaining the required licence, ensuring the property meets fire safety standards including interlinked smoke and heat detectors, fire doors on high-risk rooms, and appropriate fire escape routes, maintaining all shared facilities and common areas, ensuring adequate cooking and washing facilities for the number of occupants, and complying with the HMO management regulations.

Permitted Development and Planning

Converting a family dwelling to an HMO involves a change of use from Class C3 (dwellinghouse) to Class C4 (small HMO with between three and six occupiers). In most areas, this change of use for small HMOs is permitted development and does not require planning permission, though some local authorities have removed this permitted development right through an Article 4 Direction in areas where HMO concentration is high. Large HMOs with more than six occupiers always require planning permission for the change of use.

Summary

A House in Multiple Occupation is a property shared by three or more people from two or more households. Landlords must license large HMOs and must meet fire safety, facility, and management standards. Small HMO change of use is usually permitted development unless an Article 4 Direction applies. Unlicensed HMO operation is a criminal offence and tenants may claim rent repayment.