How do I work out how many households are in my property?

What is the difference?You need to know how many ‘households’ are in your property to work out whether it is an HMO or not.

You do this by looking at the people living in the property and (in most cases) whether they are relatives or not.

So:

  • Two people living together as a couple (either heterosexual or same sex) will be treated as one household
  • If they have any children, these will be part of their household too – this includes blood relatives and step and adopted children.
  • Blood or half relatives will also form one household – eg two sisters and the child of one of them
  • Certain employees including au pair’s, live in nannies, housekeepers and carers will also be within the household.

However, it is irrelevant

  • Whether they are on the tenancy agreement as a tenant or occupier or not
  • They all eat together or store their food in the same cupboard
  • Whether they have signed a license agreement, joint and several AST or an AST or rooms in a shared house

Some examples:

  • Unmarried couple with child – one household – not an HMO
  • Two cousins with a child of one of them – one household – not an HMO
  • Two friends with a child of one of them – two households – an HMO but not subject to mandatory licensing
  • Two brothers and their friend – two households but not subject to mandatory licensing
  •  Couple with two children and a lodger who is not authorised by the tenancy agreement – two households – and a licensable HMO as there are 5 occupiers
 Note that we have a very detailed guide to HMOs for Business Level members here.
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