Does a HMO need to be registered?
Reviewed by Sean McNamara, 2026-10-07
The words confuse everyone: there is no national 'HMO register' subscription - landlords obtain LICENCES from councils (3 regimes), and councils keep their own public/inspectable records. Whether YOUR house needs one depends on occupant count, household structure, and your council's designations.
Council-by-council is the only reliable answer
Licensing is local: two houses on opposite sides of a borough boundary can sit in different regimes. The site's council-register checker covers every council - find yours, see what's designated, and confirm against the council's own licensing pages before making (or defending) an application.
Tenant-facing use of this page
If you rent in what looks like an HMO (multiple unrelated housemates, shared kitchen), check the register. A MISSING licence where one is required opens the rent repayment order route worth up to 12 months' rent - documented with a simple register check plus your rent statements.
Questions this page answers
- Does a HMO need to be registered?
- An HMO needing MANDATORY licensing (5+ occupants from 2+ households, shared facilities) must be licensed with the council - which means appearing on the council's records. There is no separate national registration step for most HMOs; additional/selective designations add council-specific requirements.
- Does an HMO have to be registered?
- Same as above - 'registered' colloquially means 'licensed'. The verifiable fact: a licensed HMO appears on its council's public licensing register. Unlicensed operation where a licence is required is an offence with rent-repayment-order exposure for tenants.
- Does a 4 bedroom HMO need a licence?
- Bedrooms don't decide; OCCUPANTS do. A 4-bed house with 5 or more tenants from 2+ households needs a mandatory licence. A 4-bed house with 4 or fewer occupants may still need an ADDITIONAL licence if your council designated that area. Count people first, rooms second.
- Does my HMO need a licence?
- Test: 1) Is it an HMO? (3+ unrelated people sharing, more than one household). 2) 5+ occupants? -> mandatory licence. 3) Under local additional/selective designation? -> that licence too. If the answer to either licensing test is yes, apply to the council - operating unlicensed is the offence tenants repay via RROs.
- Does my property need a licence in Haringey?
- Haringey has run licensing schemes beyond mandatory (verify CURRENT designation on the council's pages or via this site's register checker - borough schemes get renewed and redrawn). If your Haringey property is an HMO, assume additional licensing may apply and check the live scheme before renting it out.
Sources and further reading