HMO's are properties occupied by 3 or more people, including children, who form more than one household (including buildings converted into self-contained flats that don't meet the standards of the 1991 Building Regulations).
A household can be a single person or several members of the same family. For example:
- a house occupied by a brother, sister and one other unrelated occupant would form two households
- three unrelated persons would form three households
The tenancy agreement isn't relevant in determining if a house is an HMO - nor is the size of the property (e.g. the number of storeys)
Our Private Sector Housing (PSH) Operations team licence and regulate HMOs. They can be emailed at [email protected].
Register
Search for an HMO by selecting Advanced, Licences, and choose Houses in Multiple Occupation in the Category field.
Narrow this down further with the first line of the address in the search. Search by area by adding the following to the 'Alternative Reference' field:
- BCW for our Wellingborough area
- CBC for our Corby area
- ENC for our East Northamptonshire area
- KBC for our Kettering area
Licences
All HMOs of 5 or more occupants are now licensable, regardless of how many floors the property has.
In purpose-built flats where there are up to two flats in the block, a licence will be required if:
- one or both of the flats are occupied by 5 or more people
- the occupants form 2 or more separate households
- this will apply regardless of whether the block is above or below commercial premises.
Either the landlord (owner) or someone they nominate (such as a manager or agent) can hold the licence if they agree to it
Policies
Licensing
The Private Sector Housing Assistance policy covers HMO licensing
Enforcement
Our council Enforcement policy covers when we need to take any action about an HMO
Guidance
The law on HMOs
Consulting on HMOs, Article 4 use and limiting the use of HMOs
Standards
People and children living in HMOs, parking, bins and amenity standards
Safety and anti-social behaviour
Crime and anti-social behaviour in HMOs and how we work with police and fire services
Licence conditions, inspections and enforcement
Licence conditions, standards, inspections and enforcement action
HMOs in North Northamptonshire
People living in HMOs, ownership, number of non-licensable HMOs, Corby's HMOs and SERCO providing HMOs for asylum seekers
Support we provide and NNC HMOs
What support we offer certain HMOs including temporary accommodation and resettlement