Houses in Multiple Occupation
What is a House in Multiple Occupation or an HMO?
For many people this is a minefield – the press have not given enough attention to this area of letting in our opinion, as it affects many ordinary people’s lives from Students to Professional people sharing properties. In larger towns and cities across the uk, such as Birmingham,Bristol, Cheltenham, Manchester,and particularly in the South East/London area where property is either far too expensive to own/rent or there is not enough supply for the demand. Swansea is no different than these other cities and therefore the result is the same. To save costs, single persons and sometimes couples, pair up and share accommodation resulting in a multi-occupied property.
In simple terms the definition of a house in multiple occupation or an HMO is a property occupied by three or more people who do not form a single household.
If the property is three storey and occupied by five or more persons then that property must be Licensed (Mandatory Licensing)
The legal definition of HMO is very complex and often revolves around the definition of a household. Within the legal definition, there is no attempt to distinguish between different types of HMO.
There have been many queries regarding this matter
The Housing Act 1985 provided a definition of an HMO that was subsequently amended by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. The legal definition of an HMO is ‘a house which is occupied by persons who do not form a single household’. For the purposes of this Act, any part of a building originally constructed or subsequently adapted for occupation by a single household is a ‘house’. There are three key parts to the definition, ‘house’, ‘occupied’ and ‘not a single household’.
Over the years, a body of case law relating to the HMO definition has developed. Currently, in its broadest meaning, a house is ‘a building which is constructed or adapted for use as or for the purpose of a dwelling (Ashbridge Investments Ltd v Ministry of Housing and Local Government 1965). It is also ‘a place fitted and used and adapted for human habitation’ (Reed v Hastings Corporation 1964). There are a variety of other premises included as houses under case law (e.g. lodging-houses, holiday homes for children, hostels and hotels occupied by homeless families). Houses converted into flats (whether self-contained flats or not) are still houses (Okereke v London Borough of Brent 1967). However, a single flat cannot be a house for the purposes of this part of the Housing Act. Although it has not been legally tested, it is generally assumed that a single tower block is not a house.
Occupied means ‘lived in’ (Silbers v Southwark LBC 1977). Therefore vacant houses cannot be HMOs under the legal definition.
The ‘not of a single household’ is the most complex part of the HMO definition. A ‘single household’ is not defined. Before 1969, membership of a family group or lettings in lodgings were considered a household, but this is no longer the case. The question of whether a group of people living in a house constitutes one or more household depends on the specific facts of the case in question.
In 1995 there was a test case Barnes v Sheffield City Council – However since the introduction of the Housing Act 2004, a powerful piece of government legislation, there is a clear picture as to what constitutes a HMO.
