HMO – a house which consists of one or more units of living accommodation not consisting of a self-contained flat or flats; and
(a) the living accommodation is occupied by persons who do not form a single household (see below) and is occupied by those persons as their only or main residence or they are to be treated as so occupying it (see section 259 Housing Act 2004)
(b) their occupation of the living accommodation constitutes the only use of that accommodation
(c) rents are payable or other consideration is to be provided in respect of at least one of those persons' occupation of the living accommodation; and
(d) two or more of the households who occupy the living accommodation share one or more basic amenities namely a toilet, personal washing facilities, or cooking facilities; or the living accommodation is lacking in one or more basic amenities.
Buildings are not houses in multiple occupation where the person managing or having control of it is—
(a) a local housing authority or a non-profit registered provider of social housing
(b) a body which is registered as a social landlord under Part 1 of the Housing Act 1996 (c. 52)
(c) a police and crime commissioner
(d) the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime
(e) a fire and rescue authority, or
(f) a health service body
“Household” – People who are all members of the same family, in that
(a) they are married to each other or live together as husband and wife (or in an equivalent relationship in the case of persons of the same sex)
(b) one of them is a relative of the other; or
(c) one of them is, or is a relative of, one member of a couple and the other is a relative of the other member of the couple.
For those purposes—
(a) a “couple” means two persons who are married to each other or in an equivalent relationship
(b) “relative” means parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin
(c) a relationship of the half-blood shall be treated as a relationship of the whole blood; and (d) the stepchild of a person shall be treated as his child.
Hostel type HMO
Short duration accommodation for people with no other permanent place of residence. Not hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation, where amenity standards are set within the document “Setting the Standard for Temporary Accommodation in London”
Bedsit type HMO
Some facilities are shared, such as bathrooms and / or toilets, but individual rooms are let separately and contain some facilities for exclusive use of the occupier, such as cooking facilities. Let as individual rooms occupied by a number of unrelated persons living as more than one household where there is little interaction between the occupiers. Cooking and food preparation facilities may be provided within the individual units of accommodation. There is usually no communal living room and each occupant lives otherwise independently of all others.
There are usually individual tenancies rather than a single joint tenancy. Bedroom doors will usually be lockable.
Shared Houses HMOs
Shared houses are where the whole property has been rented out by an identifiable group of sharers such as students, work colleagues or friends as joint tenants. Each occupant normally has their own bedroom but they share the kitchen, dining facilities, bathroom, WC, living room and all other parts of the house.
There is normally a significant degree of social interaction between the occupants and they will, in the main, have rented out the house as one group. There is usually a single joint tenancy agreement.
In summary, the group will possess many of the characteristics of a single family household, although the property is still legally defined as a HMO because the occupants are not all related.