It is not always realised that if you rent a property to three or more people who share living accommodation who are not family – this is (usually) an HMO.
Here are some other HMO misunderstandings:
- If a property does not need an HMO license – this does not mean it is not an HMO
- Planning issues are not relevant to the question of whether your property is an HMO or not
- Neither is the situation regarding Council Tax – which operates under different rules
- ALL HMOs, whether or not they need a license MUST comply with the HMO Management Regulations
- Prosecutions by Local Authorities for HMO relates offences are increasing – and the fines will normally be thousands rather than hundreds of pounds
If any of this was a surprise to you – particularly if you manage an HMO property yourself – then you need a bit of training.
HMO Free Help
To help, I have just added a new free kit to my Legal Kits site which consists of clips from a talk David Smith did at our 2013 Landlord Law Conferences. Although this talk was delivered some time ago – the law has not changed much and I have always considered this to be an excellent talk and particularly relevant to anyone who is new to HMO laws.
You can sign up for this, completely free of charge, here.
You will also find information about our other online kits, some of which are also free.