Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO)

Any rented property with three or more people living across two or more households and sharing common facilities is classed as a house in multiple occupation (HMO).

All properties that meet this description are covered by various legislation - in particular, the Housing Act 2004 and The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006, which lists eight specific duties managers of HMOs must follow. 

Any rented property with five or more people living across two or more households and sharing common facilities is classed as a large house in multiple occupation (HMO) and must be licensed.

Apply for a licence

• Apply online to license a house in multiple occupation
• Apply online to vary a licence for a house in multiple occupation
• Apply online to renew a licence for a house in multiple occupation

What is the application process?

Once we have received your application form, we'll then check to see if we have everything we need for a valid application. Please provide:

• A fully completed and signed application form
• Part 1 fee payment
• All  required supporting documentation (PDF 408KB) 
  

If you are unable to provide all supporting documentation at application stage, we will write to you advising you of what is missing. We will keep your application active for a maximum of three months, to give you time to provide the documents. If, after this period, you fail to provide all outstanding evidence needed to process your application, we will close your application and refund any fees paid by yourself.

At this point, if you are operating a licensable HMO without a licence or a valid application for a licence you will be committing an offence and will be open to prosecution. The fine for such an offence could be up to a maximum of £30,000.

Once your application is deemed valid, we will arrange a licence inspection. In the meantime, we will consult with other Council departments to check that the licence holder and manager is a 'fit and proper' person.

Providing nothing is identified at the inspection or during the consultation, we'll send a notice of intent to grant a licence to all relevant parties giving 21 days to make representation. As this point, we will ask that you pay Part 2 of the application fee. If no representations are received within 21 days then we will issue the full licence covering a five-year period.

Licence fees

There is a fee for licensing each HMO. The fees for 2022-2023 are as follows:

Inspection programme

We have a proactive inspection programme of HMOs. If the condition of a property is not up to standard then the landlord or owner will be asked to carry out improvements.

For more information about these standards, please visit our Property conditions page.

HMO enforcement in Dacorum

Find out more about  HMO enforcement in Dacorum (PDF 418KB).

Fire safety

We want to make sure that all residents living in Dacorum have a safe home and a healthy environment to live in. To help landlords keep their properties safe, we have created a  HMO fire safety leaflet (PDF 1MB).

To ensure that all landlords are conducting the best fire safety risk assessments possible, we have created a  Fire Risk Assessment Guide and Example Form (PDF 516KB).

Public register

We are required (under section 232 of the Housing Act 2004) to maintain and make available a public register of licensed Houses in Multiple Occupation.

HMO register – disclosure of licence holder’s name and address

We are obliged to publish the following data under Section 232 of the Housing Act 2004 and Statutory Instrument 2006/373, which provides for a public register and regulation 11 of the Licensing and Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation and Other Houses (Miscellaneous Provisions)(England) Regulations 2006;

(a) The name and address of the licence holder

(b) The name and address of the person managing the licensed HMO or house

(c) The address of the licensed HMO or house

(d) A short description of the licensed HMO or house

(e) A summary of the conditions of the licence

(f) The start date and duration of the licence

(g) Summary information of any matter concerning the licensing of the HMO or house that has been referred to (the First-tier Tribunal) 1 or to the (Upper Tribunal) 2

(h) Summary information of any decision of the tribunals referred to in sub-paragraph (g) that relate to the licensed HMO or house, together with the reference number allocated to the case by the tribunal.

You can view the register below:

 Register of licensed Houses in Multiple Occupation (PDF 496KB)

For further information on how we use your data, please visit our Privacy policies page.

Fit and proper statement

When deciding whether a licence applicant is a ‘fit and proper person', we must have evidence that shows the applicant, or anyone else associated with the management of the house in multiple occupation is a fit and proper person. 

To do this, we must take into consideration the legislation set out in the Housing Act 2004 (section 66).

When you apply for a HMO licence, you will be required to supply a basic disclosure certificate for the person named as a property manager, which will list any unspent criminal convictions. You can find more information and apply for a basic disclosure certificate on the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) website.

For further information, please read our  Fit and Proper Landlord Statement (PDF 524KB).

Reporting a suspected HMO in Dacorum

If you know of a property in Dacorum that is offered for rent as a house in multiple occupation, or if you suspect a possible HMO that is not on our register, please report it below using our online form.

Report a suspected unlicensed HMO in Dacorum

More information

For more information, please email pshousing@dacorum.gov.uk or call 01442 228000 and ask for Private Sector Housing.