Applying for an HMO on a terraced 4 bedroom family house

[happyduck]

I may have to apply for an HMO in order to rent out my 4 bedroom terraced house and I wondered if anyone here had any experience of the process and how laborious it was. I'd also be interested to know what kind of additional work they had to do to a family house in good condition in order to be granted the license.

Any advice gratefully received.

V best wishes

Daisy

[alice]

Rent to a family no need for hmo

[Ghlpc]

A HMO will yeild a better rent.

I'm sure you only need a license if it's 5 or more rooms?

Contact Southwarks Private Housing Enforcement team to check, as making the changes to your property can cost anything between 3-6k

[Sally Eva]

Have a look at this https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/student-housing/students-in-private-rented-accommodation/student-housing-living-in-a-house-in-multiple-occupation-hmo/

It says students but it covers every place where more than one household is sharing at least one room ie a kitchen or a bathroom. A couple is a household. Two tenants who are friends rather than a couple are two households -- definition is to do with sharing bed, bank account, shopping, meals etc. Quite big fines. To some degree the rules are local ie depending on how much enforcement the LA is doing. So the advice above by GHlip is good.

southwark property licensing here: https://www.southwark.gov.uk/business/licences/property-licensing?chapter=2

NB also the stuff at the end about applying for planning permission for a change of use. Your neighbours may worry about noise etc

[alice]

No planning permission for Hmo

[Angelina]

happyduck - if you use google, there is all the information you need

"Apply for HMO"

[happyduck]

Thanks so much for your responses. I think perhaps I wasn't clear with my question.

I've read all the guidance available on how to apply for an HMO and am pretty clear on the pros and cons of doing it.

What I'm interested to know is whether in the process of securing an Additional License (which is what I will need should I go ahead as I may end up letting my property to a family who want to live with one additional friend) anyone had been required to make any significant alterations to a property that had previously been occupied as a family house.

For example: we have smoke alarms on every floor and CO2 alarms where necessary but they're battery operated and not mains. We don't have safety lighting on the landings. Is this something that I will be asked to install. What about fire doors?

If anyone has any experience of this I'd be really grateful.

Daisy

[alice]

Would it make it simpler to rent the house to the family and allow them to sublet one room to a lodger then I don?t think you would need an HMO.

[KidKruger]

Authorities have turned renting into an impractical (in some cases) nightmare.

I have a house with a gas Aga (hot water, heating and cooking) which I rent out and the council a couple of years ago told me I would need to install an electronic controller upstairs so occupants can control heating from upstairs, instead of having to turn the heating control dial on side of Aga downstairs (as had worked fine for all owners / tenants since 1973, when Aga installed).

Council said it was a 'health hazard' because if someone was poorly they would not be able to control the heating from upstairs !

I found tenants and asked them to sign an acknowledgement of the 'health hazard' and moved them in.

Council tried to insist they move out.

Tenants complained to Council and told them not to be dafty asses, after which Council dropped-it !

Jaw-droppingly pointless procedural BS.

[womanofdulwich]

The hmo might yield a higher gross rent but Isuspect the management issues and costs will be higher.

[KidKruger]

Agreed. Renting to one family is far simpler in my experience.

[Ghlpc]

I done a few before.

The changes vary from council to council, but for a licensed HMO property you would at least need:

1.Fire doors and linings on all risk rooms.

2.A Fire alarm system, hard wired and call points around the house.

3.Emergency lighting (if escape routes don't have much natural light)

4.interlinked smoke detectors in most rooms and a heat alarm in the kitchen.

5. if you have a basement or cellar the ceiling needs to be fire protected.

6.extinguishers

7.Fire risk assessment.

plus other stuff like enough toilets and wash facilities, room sizes, storage space etc.

it's not an easy process but I found Southwark Council to be helpful in the process.

Also, download and look at the Lacors Fire Safety Guide.

Hope this helps.

[fishbiscuits]

I've also done one. Hard-wired, LINKED smoke alarm system, all furnishings to have fire safety labels, emergency lighting, a few assorted small electrical jobs. Then after doing all that, council declared that one of the bedrooms was considered too small (even though it had double bed, drawers, and wardrobe..). Saying that, the process wasn't exactly nightmarish.

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Happyduck,

if you rent out your property as a 4 bed property, it will be a HMO property, but it won't need an HMO license unless it is rented to 5 or more people (eg if you convert a lounge to a bedroom) but depending on location it may need a licence. This is when all the measures posted by Ghlpc come into place. There is a Southwark Licensing scheme for rented properties who covers smaller HMOs within the pink zones on the map.

https://geo.southwark.gov.uk/connect/analyst/mobile/#/main?overlays=PRS%20Selective%20Housing%20Licensing%20Pink%20Zone

4 (or fewer) unrelated people and outside a pink zone currently means that no Licence is required.

Renata

[fishbiscuits]

Are you sure, Renata? Southwark's "additional" licencing scheme was introduced 3 years ago, and covers any property shared by three or more unrelated people. As a result I had to apply for a licence, make some costly modifications, and eject one of my tenants.

Has this scheme now been reverted?

[happyduck]

Hi fishbiscuits

It's the additional license that I would have to apply for. I'd be interested to know what the modifications were that you were required to do? Happy to PM if you prefer?

Many thanks

Daisy

[fishbiscuits]

It's basically the stuff I listed in the previous post. Some electrical work, some new furniture, etc. Feel free to PM me.