Under the Housing Act 2004, a property is an HMO if at least 3 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household, and they share toilet, bathroom, or kitchen facilities. A household consists of either a single person or members of the same family living together.

In England and Wales, a Mandatory HMO licence is legally required if the property is occupied by 5 or more people living in 2 or more separate households who share basic facilities (such as a kitchen, bathroom, or WC). Since October 2018, the previous 3-storey rule was abolished, so any property with 5+ sharers across 2+ households requires a licence regardless of the number of storeys.

Mandatory Licensing applies nationally across England and Wales for 5+ occupants in 2+ households. Additional Licensing is introduced by local councils for smaller HMOs (typically 3 or 4 occupants forming 2+ households). Selective Licensing is applied by local councils to all private rented properties in specific geographical wards regardless of tenant count or household structure.

Under the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) (England) Regulations 2018: (1) Single adult (10+ years): minimum 6.51 m² (70.1 sq ft); (2) Two adults (10+ years): minimum 10.22 m² (110.0 sq ft); (3) Child under 10 years: minimum 4.64 m² (49.95 sq ft). Any room under 4.64 m² cannot legally be used as sleeping accommodation.

Operating an unlicensed HMO is a strict liability criminal offence. Local authorities can issue civil penalties of up to £30,000 per offence under Housing Act 2004 s249A, or prosecute in court with unlimited fines. Furthermore, tenants and councils can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a Rent Repayment Order (RRO) requiring repayment of up to 12 months' rent, and landlords are barred from serving Section 21 eviction notices while unlicensed.

An Article 4 Direction is a planning regulation implemented by a local authority that removes permitted development rights to convert a standard Class C3 single-family dwellinghouse into a Class C4 small HMO (3 to 6 sharers). In an Article 4 area, planning permission must be obtained from the local planning authority prior to letting to 3 or more unrelated tenants.

Yes. All property licensing calculations, room size checks, and compliance evaluations run 100% locally in your web browser. No property address, financial numbers, or tenant data are stored or transmitted to external servers.

Press Alt+P or click 'Paste & Detect' in the hero toolbar. The tool inspects your clipboard and automatically identifies key property metrics — including occupant/tenant counts (e.g. '5 tenants'), monthly rents (e.g. '£3,200/mo'), recognized UK local authorities (e.g. 'Camden', 'Manchester', 'Bristol'), or bedroom surface areas (e.g. '10.22 m²' or '110 sq ft') — prefilling the assessment immediately without manual typing.

Use Alt+V or click 'Layout' in the hero toolbar to toggle between a spacious 2-Column Side-by-Side Split Studio (max-w-7xl, placing inputs and real-time legal verdicts side-by-side on desktop monitors) and a Full-Width Stacked layout (max-w-4xl, optimized for laptops and mobile devices). Your layout density preference is persisted locally in localStorage under 'telekit_hmo_view_mode'.

Yes. You can generate a clean, print-optimized HTML Compliance Audit Certificate (via 🖨️ Print Certificate) suitable for council licensing applications, lenders, or insurance audits. You can also export a structured RFC 4180 CSV matrix of all bedroom measurements, statutory minimum comparisons, and compliance statuses (via 📑 CSV).