Types of property licences
1. Mandatory HMO Licensing Scheme
HMOs are houses or flats which are occupied by persons who do not form a single household and share amenities such as cooking and personal washing facilities.
The full legal definition of an HMO is contained within sections 254-259 of the Housing Act 2004.
Mandatory HMO Licensing applies when there are five or more persons who are not living together as a single household, and some of the households are sharing facilities (section 254), in properties such as:
- converted buildings with non-self- contained accommodation, such as bedsits
- residential premises above shops
- shared houses
- shared flats in converted buildings, including those above shops
- shared purpose-built flats where the block comprises no more than two flats
Examples of sharing amenities are when:
- some residents have en-suite showers and share the cooking facilities
- cooking facilities are located in bedrooms for the exclusive use of the occupants and the bathrooms and toilets are shared
- sharing of cooking facilities, bathroom, and toilets
Implementation and operation of an HMO Licensing Scheme
Local housing authorities (LHAs) are obliged to operate a scheme requiring those managing or having control of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in their area to obtain a licence authorising their occupation.
Part 2 of “the Act” applies to HMOs occupied by five or more persons in two or more households. A household is one individual or a family where each member is related ie a couple, a parent, grandparent, child, step-child, grandchild, sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin.
The scheme was previously limited to properties of three or more storeys was extended on 1 October 2018 to cover all HMOs occupied by five or more persons. Certain exemptions apply.
HMOs by the nature of their occupancy, are occupied by different households sharing amenities with different lifestyles, the nature of the occupancy gives rise to a higher than normal risk of an incident, such as a fire occurring in properties and so HMOs must meet a more stringent level of safety against the risk of fire.
Mandatory HMO licence holders are subject to conditions and have a duty to ensure that these are met. These conditions include means of escape, management provisions, waste management and anti-social behaviour. Properties will also be subject to specific conditions.
Contravention and/or non-compliance with conditions will be subject to enforcement action.
2. Additional HMO licensing
Part 2 for the 2004, Act also enables LHA’s, at their discretion, to operate a scheme requiring those managing or having control of HMOs that are not covered by mandatory HMO licensing to obtain a licence authorising their occupation.
To do so, local authorities must be satisfied that a signification proportion of the HMOs in their area are being managed sufficiently ineffective as to give rise to one of more particular problems, either for those occupying the HMOs or for members of the public.
An additional licensing scheme was adopted by the council from 1 April 2022, to ensure that landlords who own and manage HMOs occupied by unrelated households comprising of 3 or 4 unrelated individuals are licensed.
Three friends living together are considered three households with three individuals, and if a couple are living together with a third person that property would consist of two households with 3 individuals and therefore in both cases the landlord would not need a Mandatory HMO licence, but will need an Additional HMO licence.
3. Selective licensing of sngle household properties
Under Part 3 of the 2004 Act, LHAs may also run a scheme requiring those managing or in control of other privately rented accommodation, falling outside the scope of mandatory or additional licensing, to obtain a licence authorising its occupation.
The council adopted such a scheme from 1 April 2022 for the following wards (pre May 2022 ward boundaries):
- East Acton
- Southall Broadway
- Southall Green
and from 3 January 2023:
- Acton Central
- Dormers Wells
- Greenford Broadway
- Greenford Green
- Hanger Hill
- Hobbayne
- Lady Margaret
- North Greenford
- Northolt Mandeville
- Northolt West End
- Perivale and South Acton
The Selective Licence Scheme is currently assisting the council to:
- improve housing conditions by eliminating poor standards of management in the private rented sector
- improve the management of private rented properties and reduce ASB in the private rented sector
- eliminate rogue landlords
- improve the working relationship between the council and private sector landlords
- increase awareness in tenants on the minimum standards to be expected in rented accommodation