With an extension of the rules bringing a wider range of houses in multiple occupation (HMO) into the mandatory licensing regime which came into effect on 1 October, landlords must now apply for a licence. The Government made the announcement about mandatory HMO licensing in January, but many industry commentators are concerned that landlords may not have applied for their licenses and are encouraging all owners to make sure they did so by 1 October to be compliant.

This licensing requirement applies to all properties that is occupied by five or more persons or by persons living in two or more separate households, and meets the standard test under section 254(2) of the Act, the self-contained flat test under section 254(3) of the Act but is not a purpose-built flat situated in a block comprising three or more self-contained flats, or the converted building test under section 254(4) of the Act.

Properties that fall into scope of the new definition but are already licensed under a selective or additional scheme, will be passported over to the new scheme at no cost to the landlord. Some Landlords maybe under the misconception that there was a six-month grace period, as was originally proposed, but this is not the case and it is important that no-one is found committing an offence through ignorance.

Feedback to the National Landlords Association (NLA) suggests that a number of landlords have tried to apply for licenses, but the local authority has purported not to know anything about it or simply didn’t have the systems in place to process the applications. The NLA is calling for all local authorities to be up to speed with the changes and the challenges being faced in implementing them.

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