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Houses in Multiple Occupation

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Applying for a New or Renewing your HMO Licence

If you are applying for a new or to renew your existing House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence with Rushcliffe Borough Council please review the information on this page and click on the appropriate link at the bottom of this page to take you to the online application form.

HMO Licensing Information

Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) became mandatory in April 2006 with the introduction of the Housing Act 2004. This means that larger, higher risk HMOs will most likely require a licence, if they meet all of the following criteria:

  • Five or more occupants
  • Two or more separate households.

The Act also allows for additional and selective licensing of properties which means that particular types of properties, or properties in certain defined areas, will also have to be licensed.

In Rushcliffe, there is currently no additional or selective licensing. Licences can last up to five years and will have conditions attached to them that must be complied with.

For a licence to be issued the Council must be satisfied that the landlord is a fit and proper person. That satisfactory management arrangements are in place and that the property meets certain standards in relation to facilities and amenities.  The owner and/or manager of a licensable House in Multiple Occupation is required to provide a current Basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Certificate at the time of applying for a new or renewal licence.

Within 5 years of a licensing inspection being carried out the Council is required to do a visit. This is to assess whether there are any hazards that warrant action by carrying out a housing health and safety rating system inspection.

The Council has a Public Register with information on all the houses in multiple occupation in Rushcliffe. Please see our privacy statement in regard to this register and the general privacy policy at Privacy Policy - Rushcliffe Borough Council. Details of how to view the register is at the bottom of this page.

Fire safety in HMOs 

Whenever a housing health and safety rating system inspection is carried out, a fire risk rating is done. As part of the licensing process landlords will be asked to provide an adequate fire detection system. It will be recommended that adequate fire separation and emergency lighting is also provided.

Guidance on what you are likely to be asked to be able to achieve is available on the Decent and Safe Homes website. It must be noted that this is guidance and the type of detection and separation that is required must reflect the risk from the layout of the property, the length of tenancies and the behaviour of the occupiers that are resident at the property.

General information 

If you rent out a property for multiple occupation you may require a licence from the local authority. The current fees are for a maximum five year period, but a licence can be issued for less than 5 years where standards are not met.

Am I eligible? 

Any house that is occupied by 5 or more persons who do not form part of the same household (a family) will require a licence. 

The applicant will be the owner of the house or the managing agent. The details of all owners, managing agents and person with interest in the property will be required in the application form together with full details of the house including plans and certificates.

Will tacit authority apply

No.

What happens next?

Once your application form and certificates have been submitted the authority will process the application and make arrangements for the property to undergo a full amenity check.
Once this has been carried out the Council will issue you a draft licence, you will have a minimum of 14 days to make comments on this draft.

At the expiration of the above period the Council having taken into consideration any comments made will issue the licence with conditions if applicable. These conditions may require work to be completed at the premises and will allocate time scales when these must be carried out.

What if my application is refused?

If your application is refused, you should contact the Council to discuss the reasons and your rights as to make an appeal.

You may appeal to the Residential Property Tribunal regarding the conditions attached to a licence or to revoke or vary it. The appeal must be made within 28 days from the decision being made.

Consumer complaints

We would always advise that in the event of a complaint the first point of contact should be made with the service provider (the Council). If this has not worked and you are located in the UK then contact Consumer Protection or if outside the UK contact the UK European Consumer Centre.

Apply online

Initial/NEW HMO Licence Application online

The fees payable on application are shown here Fees for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HiMO) - Rushcliffe Borough Council and will be required to be paid at the end of the online form. The form will calculate your fee based on the number of rooms applied for.

You will require relevant information to be provided at the time of your online application, pay the fee, and make the relevant declarations, which are part of the online application process. You can save your application if you create an account using the ‘Log in to save’ button on the initial page.

Relevant information will/may include the following as example:

  • DBS Certificate less than 12 months old (all applications)
  • Fit and Proper declaration (available from the documents list below)
  • HMO PLANS,
  • Landlord's Gas Safety Record
  • current Electrical Installation and Condition Report
  • Fire Detection and Alarm System Inspection and Servicing Report
  • PAT test cert
  • Smoke and Co1 Detection and Alarm System Inspection and Servicing Report
  • Copy of tenancy agreement
  • Ownership
  • Leasehold information
  • Mortgage status
  • be able to make an online payment of the appropriate fee

We are not accepting paper based or emailed PDF submissions or applications via .gov.uk. Any application must be via the online processes shown below.

Start a new application.

Renew your current HMO Licences Application online:

Section 68 (6) of the Housing Act  2004 states "A licence may not be transferred to another person"

As such if the owners of the property have changed then a new licence application is required. If you complete the renewal application and you are not the existing license holder your application will be returned as invalid as additional information is needed for a new application not covered in the renewal process. It is an offence to operate a HMO without a licence.

The fees payable at the end of the application form are shown here: Fees for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HiMO) - Rushcliffe Borough Council. The fees vary according to the size of the HiMO. Please ensure you pay the correct fee for the size of your HiMO.  

You will be notified when your current licence is about to expire and this will include the reference number you will need to start the renewal online form application. You will also require certain relevant information, pay the fee at the end, and make the relevant declarations which are part of the online renewal application process.

The case reference number from your existing licence, will be in the format of NN/NNNNN/HMOLI, where N are digit’s 0-9. If you do not have this please contact us.

DO NOT USE the renewal process if you are not the current licence holder.

Renew your licence.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you Licence has passed its renewal date you will be required to apply for a new licence application. It is an offence to operate a HMO without a licence.

Variation of a HMO licence  

Section 68 (6) of the Housing Act  2004 states "A licence may not be transferred to another person"

As such if the owners of the property have changed then a new licence application is required. 

If there has been a material change in circumstances at a property which currently holds a HMO licence a variation in licence may be required. 

It will be necessary to apply for a variation where the licence holder proposes to increase the permitted occupancy. There is a Fee to vary an existing licence if this involves such a change. 

You should contact us if there is:

  • a change of address, or a new manager appointed
  • a property being altered or extended and permitted number of occupants increased
  • a variation due to policy or legislation changes is required

You can request:

  • Copy of HMO Licence
  • Change of Details (but not Transfer)
  • Pay Part B Grant Fee

at Licensing Sundries,fees apply.

 HMO Registers

Details of the prescribed content of the register are available here The Licensing and Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation and Other Houses (Miscellaneous Provisions) (England) Regulations 2006

To view the published list of HMO's you may view this register online at online registers and selecting HMO's in the category section.

View the full HMO register

If you wish to arrange a viewing of the full register under the Housing Act 2004, please email customerservices@rushcliffe.gov.uk  (see Find and Contact Us - Rushcliffe Borough Council)

There is no charge made to view the register, providing no attempt is made to copy it. you can make an appointment between 9am and 5pm on a weekday to look at the register. There is no charge for this, but you would not be able to copy it. It is important to make an appointment.

The licence holders' names and addresses are included as those are required to be included by the regulations. The HMO owners' names and addresses are personal data and therefore are not disclosed.

Purchase a pdf copy of the full HMO register

if you wish to have a copy of the full register, the HMO register can be sent to you as a pdf version by email. The Council is authorised in Housing Act 2004 (section 232) to recover its costs of producing and sending a copy of the HMO Register, and this cost is £50.

The reason we supply the register in pdf format is because advice from the Information Commissioner's Office in 2017 about disclosure of landlords' names and addresses was as follows:

"As the duty of the council under the Housing Act 2004 is to provide a copy of the register (which will include the name and address of each licence holder by virtue of that duty) to a requester, such a disclosure of personal data is lawful and there would be no breach of the first data protection principle. However, it is the form in which the register is provided where it may be considered unfair and subsequently breach the DPA, such as publishing the full register on the internet. The requirement under the Housing Act is just to provide a copy of the register on request, there is no obligation to make it available electronically since publication on the internet may be unfair and excessive given the potential for ease of access by a large number of people."

Therefore, the Council is not obliged to make the information available to you in excel or csv format as such forms of disclosure could be a breach of the DPA as it makes the names and addresses too accessible.

If you decide that you wish to purchase a pdf copy of the HMO register, please email customerservices@rushcliffe.gov.uk  (see Find and Contact Us - Rushcliffe Borough Council) and we will arrange for a member of staff to contact you by phone to take the card payment of £50. We have a payment portal for such requests and we are working on adding this to to the portal in due course this is at  Licensing Sundries |

The licence holders' names and addresses are included in the certified copy as those are required to be included by the regulations. The HMO owners' names and addresses are personal data and therefore are not disclosed.

Information exempt from disclosure under the FOI Act

Requests to see the full HMO register are exempt from disclosure under FOI, due to the council's obligations under section 232 of the Housing Act 2004 to someone who requested a copy of the HMO Register and paid the required fee.

 

 

Contact Us

Rushcliffe Borough Council Licensing team

Do It Online

Licensing Sundries

Document List

Fit and Proper declaration form (please ensure you turn on edit document after download)

 

RBC Fit And Proper Person Test Protocol

RBC HMO Amenity Standards October 2018

Review of the RBC HMO Amenity Standards is currently underway.

Private Sector Housing Civil Penalties Enforcement Framework

 

Other Licences