Living in a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)

Definition of House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)

Your home is a property in multiple occupation (HMO) if both of the following apply:

• At least 3 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household
• You share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants

Your home is a large HMO if both of the following apply:

• At least 5 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household
• You share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants

A household is either a single person or members of the same family who live together. A family includes people who are:

• Married or living together - including people in same-sex relationships
• Relatives or half-relatives, for example grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings
• Step-parents and step-children

Amenity standards

If you live in a large HMO, your landlord must meet certain standards and obligations. The council are responsible for enforcing HMO standards, ensuring landlords take action to correct problems.

Please refer to our HMO Amenity Standards Guide for further details.

If you are a HMO resident and these standards and obligations are not being met by your HMO landlord, please contact our Private Sector Housing Team using the details below.

How to check your home is licenced

You can use the Bromsgrove HMO public register to check if a landlord has licenced a property as a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO). 

If you rent a property from a landlord that is convicted of failing to license that property as an HMO as required, the landlord may have to pay you back any rent you paid over the period that property should have been licensed, up to a maximum twelve months.

You'd have to apply for this through the Residential Property Tribunal.