Licensing
What are the HMO management regulations?
The HMO management regulations place duties on the manager of an HMO covering common parts, fire safety, water and drainage, waste, and the display of contact details — whether or not the HMO is licensed.
They apply to HMOs generally, which is the point most often missed: a property below the licensing threshold still carries them, and breaches are offences in their own right.
Several duties are about the common parts — keeping escape routes clear, maintaining fire precautions, keeping shared facilities clean and in repair — which is where an inspector looks first.
Displaying the manager's name, address and contact details in the property is a simple duty that is very frequently unmet and very easily checked.
What goes wrong in practice
- Assumed to apply only to licensed HMOs.
- Manager contact details not displayed anywhere in the property.
- Common parts treated as nobody's responsibility between tenancies.