Letting-out three rooms separately: is this HMO?

[bob]

If i rent a house out to 3 different people ,one in each room and each paying a set rent,does this class as a multiple occupancy or can this be done on a normal buy to let mortgage?

[fitzy]

As far as I understand it - unless the group is living as a family, with one AST and one person taking responcibility for it then it is a HMO.

How this would affect your mortgage I can not comment on but you may do well to speak to the EHO to find out if any work needs to be carried out at the property eg. fire doors etc.

[Patois]

There is new legislation relating to HMO's that you need to be aware of.The Housing Act 2004 was passed into law but much of it, including the provisions for HMO's, has not yet come into force.

Whether there is a joint tenancy or not - a house occupied by 'more than one household where sharing of amenities and rent or other amounts are payable' will be an HMO.
Subject to a list of exemptions of course - mainly relating to RSL's, Public Bodies, LA's, Educational Establishments.

Expected to come into force in October (but may be later as lots of guidance still to be published by ODPM)

Your Local Authority should be able to advise

[Editor]

There's a lot of confusion around as to exactly what constitutes an HMO and in what circumstances landlords will need to be licenced. This is not helped by the fact that different authorites have in the past interpreted the rules slightly differently, for example where tenants are on a joint, or single tenancies.
Also, there are different definitions for different purposes, for example, for Council Tax, for Environmental Health and Safety, for Planning and Building Regulations and now for Licencing.

The main definition we have for the new licencing regulations due to come into force form October 2005 under the Housing Act 2004 is qouted in our legal briefing section - see http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/legal_briefing.htm

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April 2005 Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) Guidelines for Landlords
Wrtten Ministerial Statement by Keith Hill - April 2005

It is proposed that: "the threshold for mandatory licensing will apply to HMOs comprising of three or more storeys and occupied by five or more persons (comprising at least two households)..."