Do you need an HMO licence?
Five people share my property. Does it need a licence from the council, and who decides?
Rules last read at source on 20 September 2026. Covers England. Pick Scotland or Wales and the checker says so rather than handing you England's numbers - both run their own schemes at their own thresholds.
Who lives there
Answer the questions and this will tell you whether mandatory HMO licensing applies — and, where it does not, who decides.
The three schemes, and which one is which
“Do I need an HMO licence” is really three questions, and only the first has a national answer. This is why a number you were told by another landlord in another town can be perfectly accurate and useless to you.
Mandatory licensing
Everywhere in EnglandFive or more people in two or more households, sharing a toilet, bathroom or kitchen. Set nationally by the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Description) (England) Order 2018, so no council can opt out of it and none can raise it.
Additional licensing
Where a council designates itExtends licensing to smaller HMOs - commonly three or four people in two or more households. A council designates it for part or all of its area, so the threshold two streets apart can genuinely differ.
Selective licensing
Where a council designates itCovers every private rented home in a designated area, shared or not. A single family in an ordinary house can need a licence under it, which is why no answer here can tell you that you do not need one.
Counting households, not tenants
| Who lives there | People | Households | Mandatory licence? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five friends sharing a kitchen and bathroom | 5 | 5 | Yes |
| A family of four, plus one lodger | 5 | 2 | Yes |
| A couple and their three children | 5 | 1 | No — not an HMO at all |
| Two couples sharing a house | 4 | 2 | Not mandatory — the council may still require one |
| Four friends sharing, one of whom has a partner move in | 5 | 4 | Yes — it became licensable that day |
The last row is the one worth sitting with. Mandatory licensing is a test on the occupation rather than on the letting, so a property that did not need a licence when the tenancy was signed can need one later without anything being re-let — and the duty starts when the fifth person moves in, not when you next get round to thinking about it.
Three storeys stopped mattering in 2018
The old mandatory test also required three or more storeys, and a great deal of advice still in circulation says so. The Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Description) (England) Order 2018 revoked the 2006 order that contained it, with effect from 1 October 2018. A two-storey house, a bungalow and a single flat are all capable of needing a mandatory licence today. Article 4 of that Order is the test this page applies: 5 or more people, 2 or more households, and the property meeting one of the Housing Act’s own tests — which for most readers is the standard one, a shared house.
What a licence brings with it
A licence is granted for a period the council sets and carries conditions that apply throughout it, not only at the point of application — management standards, amenity requirements, and usually a maximum number of occupants. A property that satisfied them when it was licensed can fall out of step as the building or the council’s requirements change, which is a separate risk from the licence simply expiring. It also sits on top of everything an ordinary let needs rather than replacing any of it: the gas, EICR and EPC dates still run, and HMOs usually carry additional fire safety requirements because more people share the same escape route.
If you are not sure which council you are dealing with, GOV.UK will find it from the postcode. A property with 3 or more people in two or more households is an HMO on GOV.UK’s own description whether or not it is licensable, and the HMO management regulations apply to it either way.
What this does not tell you
It works from what you typed in, and nothing else. Every one of these is a way the answer above can be right and your position still be wrong.
It cannot tell you that you do not need a licence. Only mandatory licensing is set nationally; additional and selective licensing are designated council by council, and selective licensing covers ordinary single lets. The postcode lookup on GOV.UK is the only thing that answers for a specific address.
Unlike the calculators here that compute a statutory date, this one is not running the product's own code. Tenarize tracks an HMO licence as a document with an expiry date - it has never held a view on whether one is required, because the answer turns on who lives there and on what a council has designated.
It works from the household count you enter, and that is the figure people get wrong. A council applies the statutory definition in sections 254 to 259 of the Housing Act 2004, which is wider than GOV.UK's plain-English summary of it.
It does not cover section 257 HMOs - blocks converted into self-contained flats where the conversion did not meet building standards - which are licensed under their own rules.
Needing a licence and qualifying for one are different things. A licence is granted against room sizes, amenity standards, fire safety and management conditions that this page does not assess and that your council may set above the national minimum.
England only. Scotland licenses HMOs from three unrelated sharers, and Wales runs its own scheme alongside Rent Smart Wales registration.
Answers, in plain terms
Do I need an HMO licence?
You need one under the mandatory scheme if five or more people live there forming two or more households and sharing a toilet, bathroom or kitchen. That applies everywhere in England. Below that it depends on your council: many run additional licensing for smaller HMOs, and selective licensing can cover every private rental in a designated area - so a property that fails the national test can still need a licence.
What counts as a household?
A single person, or members of the same family living together - couples including same-sex couples, relatives and half-relatives such as grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, and step-parents and step-children. Everyone else is a household of their own. That is why a family of four plus one lodger is five people in two households and is licensable, while a couple with three children is five people in one household and is not an HMO at all.
Is the threshold three people or five?
Both numbers are real and they answer different questions. Three or more people in more than one household, sharing facilities, makes the property an HMO on GOV.UK's description - which brings the management regulations with it. Five is the point at which a licence becomes mandatory nationally. Between the two, it is your council's additional licensing scheme, if it has one, that decides.
Does the property still need three storeys?
No, and this is the most common piece of out-of-date advice on the subject. The three-storey condition was in the 2006 order, which the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Description) (England) Order 2018 revoked with effect from 1 October 2018. A two-storey house, a bungalow or a single flat can all need a mandatory licence today.
What happens if I let an unlicensed HMO?
It is a criminal offence rather than a paperwork lapse, and a tenant can apply to a tribunal to reclaim rent paid while the property was unlicensed. The penalties, and who can act on them, are worth reading on GOV.UK directly rather than taking a figure from any page that might be out of date by the time you read it.
Can a property become licensable without me re-letting it?
Yes. The test is on the occupation rather than on the tenancy, so four sharers becoming five - a partner moving in, a room re-let to someone unrelated - can make the property licensable on the day it happens. Nothing about the agreement changes, and the duty starts anyway.
Tenarize keeps the rest of it in one place
This page answers a question Tenarize does not decide for you. What the product does is hold the answer once you have it — the licences, certificates and deadlines against each property, with a reminder before any of them lapse rather than a folder you have to remember to open.