The rules on Houses in Multiple Occupation are now more complex than they were a few years ago; firstly, a licensing regime was introduced in 2004, and secondly, planning restrictions were introduced in 2010. The end result is that a group of students may well end up forming an HMO. Accordingly, a note in PLC looks at the hypothetical situation of a client who wants to buy a three-bedroom house to be used by their son whilst he is at university; the spare bedrooms and the dining room will be let to three of the son’s friends who will pay rent to the parents. The four students will live as one household sharing means, as well as outgoings. They will probably go home during the holidays and for occasional weekends. Will this fall foul of the HMO rules?

Licensing: the starting point is that a house that is let to three or more Ts, who form two or more households and share facilities, will be an HMO. In this instance, there will be three or more Ts; and they will share facilities. The only question will be whether they form two or more households. The key point to appreciate here is that a single person will amount to a single household; thus, four single, unrelated people, will constitute four separate households. Thus, it would seem to be an HMO for licensing purposes.

One point that may be raised is that the students can say that this is not their ‘only or main residence’, but that argument seems doomed to failure; official guidance says that those who occupy a building as their residence so they can take a full-time course of study will be regarded as occupying it as their only or main residence – irrespective of whether they are so doing.

The end result is that this is an HMO for licensing purposes. But, it does not necessarily follow that licensing will apply. Mandatory licensing only applies to HMOs of three or more storeys which are occupied by five or more persons (not constituting a single household). Basements and attics will not usually constitute a separate storey unless used wholly or partly as living accommodation. Accordingly, these four students would seem to be outside the licensing rules. The only exception is if the LA has designated this particular district as being subject to selective licensing.

Planning: a new planning class (C4) was created for HMOs in April 2010. So, for planning purposes a dwelling house will be an HMO if it is occupied by between three and six unrelated occupants as their main residence if they share basic amenities. This means that if the clients change the property into a C4 HMO after 6 April 2010, then planning permission will be needed, provided the change of use is ‘material’. There is an argument that the sort of change being discussed here would not be regarded as ‘material’, but that will probably not be the opinion of local planning officers. Note that if the property was bought before 6 April, and the client’s son and friends were in occupation before then, then there is no need to get express C4 planning permission (the property will automatically be reclassified as C4).

Needless to say, this has now become a difficult and complex area. One suspects that most parents buying properties for their student children will simply carry on in blissful ignorance of potential licensing and planning issues. Source: www.practicallaw.com (subscription service).