Mandatory Changes
The Government is extending the Mandatory HMO Licensing scheme to cover ALL properties occupied by five or more people, regardless of age, making up two or more households.

Additional Licensing for HMO's

Nottingham has had a scheme of Additional Licensing for HMOs since 2014. The current scheme is due to close on 31^st December 2018 and a new 5 year scheme will begin on 1st January 2019.

The Consultation on the 2019-2023 scheme is now closed and the response can be found in the Executive Board report here.

The 2019 to 2023 Additional Licensing Scheme was approved on 18^th September 2018. The Statutory Public Notice is available here.

And a map of the 2019-23 Designation is available here.

Current licence holders will be notified in coming months as to how the new scheme (2019 to 2023) will affect them.

The new fee structure for Additional and Mandatory Licensing was approved on 18^th September 2018. This comes into effect immediately and applies to all HMO licence applications made on or after 19^th September 2018.

Revised licence conditions were also approved on the 18^th September 2018. These come into effect immediately and apply to any new or pending applications. These will be applied to existing licences upon licence renewal.

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Very generally: Additional licensing applies to HMOs, shared houses and flats that have 3 or 4 occupants who form 2 or more households.

It also applies to "converted block of flats" (a building (or part of a building) which has been converted into, and consists of, flats and self-contained flats).

Section 257 HMOs are no longer included in additional licensing, however the individual flats within them will need a selective license if privately rented.

Apply for a licence

Households: a household can be one person or several people. A group of people that are related, or living as a couple or family are 1 household*.

*includes couples, same sex couples and children including fostered and adopted and any other relatives.

NOTE: Where tenants claim to be related we expect landlords and/or managers to have taken out appropriate checks to be confident that they are related and the property is not being occupied as a HMO.

Examples:

Three friends = 3 households
A couple and a 1 friend = 2 households
A couple living with their parent are 1 household
A couple, sharing with 3 strangers who are all friends but not related would be 4 households
2 friends would be 2 household because they are not related
2 families would be 2 households

Some flats are also covered under the Additional Licensing Scheme and some buildings with flats may require a licence, or more than one licence.

flats within purpose built accommodation

(where there are 3 or more occupants from 2 or more households- see the definition for households above)

Converted blocks of flats

The whole building could require a licence

Buildings with self-contained flats

Some buildings can also require more than one licence.

If one (or more) of the flats is occupied as a HMO then this will need a licence (as mentioned directly above), however, the whole building may also need a licence if:

it does not meet the 1991 Building Regulations (or those thereafter)
no more than 2/3 of the building is owner occupied

This is unless ALL of the flats within the building are licensed separately.

More information on Building Regulations can be found on the Government Website.

See if a flat requires license button

More information can be found on our page dedicated to Flats and Section 257 HMOs.

You can download, view or save the fee table here.

These are the licensing fees as of 1st December 2013.

The Housing Act 2004 sets out that the licensing fee is set by the Local Authority and that this fee is required for an application to be considered as ‘duly made*’.

*duly made is the point in which we accept an application as being submitted with all of the information that is legally required

The City Council may decide to issue the Licence for any amount of time, up to a maximum of five years.

What happens if I do not apply for a renewal before the date of expiry of my current Licence?

Nottingham City Council will apply the fee which is applicable at the time the application is received for renewals, irrespective of whether any lower fee was applicable at the time a previous Licence expired.

Payment can be made by cheque (payable to Nottingham City Council) or over the telephone by debit or credit card. Please note that the City Council does not accept cash.

As of early 2018; only card payments will be taken via the online application system and will be required before the application is submitted to us.

The Council will consider whether:

the property is suitable for the number of persons requested
the proposed licence holder and manager are 'fit and proper persons'
the arrangements for managing the property are satisfactory as per the HMO Management Regulations

The Council will use the information you provide in the application and may also inspect the property to make its assessment. It will then either refuse or grant a licence. Licenses will have certain standard conditions relating to the management of the property and may have other conditions requiring, for example, the installation of further amenities.

Before issuing the full licence (or refusal) we issue a draft licence (or refusal). This gives you the opportunity to study the document and then make representations to us. Once the full licence (or refusal) has been issued, you have 28 days to appeal to the Residential Property Tribunal (RPT). Please visit the RPT pages for details of how to appeal.

Landlords and agents who fail to apply for a licence face the risk of further enforcement action which could include a financial penalty of up to £30,000 or a prosecution with an unlimited fine. In addition to this, a record of non-compliance with Housing Law may affect your ability to hold a licence.

In cases where a successful prosecution or multiple financial penalties are issued may result in a Banning Order against the guilty person, this would mean they are unable to hold a licence and may result in their properties being taken over by the Council.

Please click here to visit the DASH - Decent and Safe Homes website for further information or the Legislation website Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 371. You can also contact the HMO Team within Environmental Health.

Please click here to view the Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 371 for the regulations on prescribed description HMO's
Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 373 - The Licensing of HMOs

If you are the owner, manager or person in control of an HMO and are in any doubt whether it needs a Licence, please contact the HMO Team within Environmental Health on 0115 915 2000 (Options 5) or by e-mail at hmo@nottinghamcity.gov.uk for clarification.

There are restrictions which apply to changing the use of dwellings. Please visit the Planning pages of the web site for further information, particularly in relation to the Article 4 Direction which applies directly to the conversion of single family dwellings into HMOs.