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HMO licence conditions, inspections and enforcement

Licences

An HMO licence will be valid for up to 5 years and will then need to be renewed.

Conditions

Conditions that must be complied with include:

  • an annual gas safety certificate
  • all electrical appliances and furniture are kept in a safe condition
  • smoke alarms are installed and kept in proper working order
  • a carbon monoxide alarm is installed in any room containing a solid fuel burning combustion appliance and keeping the alarm in proper working order
  • a tenancy agreement for each occupier

Discretionary conditions

Discretionary conditions may also be applied, these could include:

  • restrictions or prohibitions on the use or occupation of parts of the HMO
  • requirements to deal with any anti-social behaviour by people occupying or visiting the HMO
  • provision of additional facilities
  • fixed electrical installations, electrical appliances and fire detection systems are in working order and the relevant certificates are provided

Standards

All licensable or non-licensable HMOs need to meet the standards of the HMO Management Regulations.

Licensable HMOs have an annual inspection where the standards of the property are checked.

Any non-licensable HMOs (that we are aware of) are also made to comply with these standards if they are found not meeting them.

HMOs that we are aware of are of a safe standard. Only the properties that we do not know about that may be cause for concern.

Inspections

Full inspections are carried out by Private Sector Housing officers to check compliance and safety of all HMOs under the Housing Act 2004 and the HMO Management Regulations 2006 and 2018.

Visits

From July 2024 to July 2025, our Private Sector Housing Operations team (made up of 5 Private Sector Housing officers and 1 Business Support officer) carried out visits to ensure HMO compliance across North Northamptonshire:

  • Licenced HMOs - 486
  • Non-licensable or suspect HMOs - 704
  • Total - 1190

At any one time, our team is investigating between 200 to 300 suspect HMOs

Advisory inspections

Usually requested before a property is converted into an HMO.

A joint visit takes place with the fire service to give advice on fire safety requirements and suitability of:

  • the property layout
  • room and kitchen sizes
  • the amenities available for the proposed number of tenants

License consultation inspections

A full inspection for a new licensable HMOs takes place where the landlord has applied for a license and their application is being validated.

Inspections check that the property fully complies with our amenity standards and all other legislative requirements, including ensuring there are no hazards present under HHSRS.

Following the inspection, the license can be approved if all requirements are met. If any issues are identified, the landlord is issued with a schedule of works to remedy them.

Annual inspections

These take place in licensed HMOs only.

All bedrooms and communal areas are inspected, to identify any hazards or breaches of the license conditions.

Some of the checks the team carry out include:

  • fire door compliance
  • that the fire alarm system is in full working order
  • that bedrooms are being occupied as per the license conditions

Suspect HMO inspections

Usually reported to us by residents or other council departments.

These are unannounced visits. If entry fails, a Section 239 (power of entry notice) is served on the landlord at least 24 hours before the inspection.

Inspections look at whether the property is being used as an HMO by:

  • gathering evidence of the number of occupants
  • fire safety measures
  • any HHSRS hazards

The landlord then needs license the property if needed or reduce the number of occupants. Failure to comply can result in a Civil Penalty Notice being served on the landlord.

Warrant execution inspections

After several attempts, if we are still unable to gain access to a suspect HMO, we will apply to the Magistrates Court for a warrant of entry.

We attend with the police and a locksmith to ensure access and to ensure the property is left secure.

Under the Housing Act 2004 we do not need to provide notice of our inspection if we suspect an HMO (annual licence inspections above are with the landlord, so we do give them notice).

Enforcement

We can take enforcement action against Landlords for non-compliance or a breach of licence conditions.

In general, the majority of landlords that own HMOs, manage the properties well. When there are concerns or issues, they initially respond to our requests through informal measures.

Licenced HMOs have licence conditions for statutory nuisance and anti-social behaviour. We aim to resolve these issues as soon as they are reported to us. If a landlord fails to take reasonable steps to comply with licence conditions, the licence may be revoked. We always work with landlords to resolve any issues swiftly.

In line with our Enforcement policy, we would ask the licence holder to rectify the issue and if they fail, we would serve an Improvement Notice or Civil Penalty Notice (depending on the circumstances). 

Revoking

When needed, HMO licences can be revoked.

Usually, a licence being revoked is rarely a result of non-compliance. A revoked licence is mainly requested by the owner when the property is sold or because they want to reduce the number of occupants.

We carry out annual inspections to all licensable HMOs to check compliance of the licence conditions - these are adhered to in the main, so we therefore don't need to revoke licences very often.

Our licenced HMOs are very well managed because we have carried out background checks on the landlord at the application stage and we inspect annually. Enforcement action is a staged approach and usually only takes place once informal requests for work fail.

Last updated 13 October 2025