Reviewed by Sean McNamara, 2026-10-07
There is no special 'HMO tenancy agreement' form prescribed by law - most HMO occupants have an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) like any other renter. What differs is everything around the agreement: licensing conditions, house rules the manager must enforce, and how bills, facilities and deposit protection are handled in a shared house.
Licence condition compliance: maximum occupant numbers per the licence, room use restrictions (no sleeping in lounges/kitchens), smoking and visitor rules, and waste arrangements the licence requires.
Access and management: the manager's 24-hour contact (a management regulation requirement), lawful 24-hour notice for entry (except emergencies), and the tenant's duty to report disrepair promptly.
Adapt a free authoritative AST template rather than drafting from scratch; add an HMO schedule listing licensed rooms, occupancy caps and house rules; serve the prescribed information with signatures; and re-check the document every time licence conditions change - the agreement should reference current conditions, not stale ones.
Yes - GOV.UK and the Deposit Protection Service publish free model assured shorthold tenancy agreements you can download and adapt. Consumer-rights templates from Which? and Shelter's guidance are also reputable. Avoid anonymous template sites of unknown provenance.
An assured shorthold tenancy (AST) for most post-February 1997 lets, naming each tenant, the room(s) they occupy exclusively, the shared facilities they may use, and the house rules that form part of the HMO licence conditions. Individual room-by-room ASTs are standard in shared houses.
Yes - there is no legal requirement to use a solicitor. The agreement must still contain the statutory prescribed information (deposit scheme details, gas safety certificate, EPC, How to Rent guide) and cannot waive statutory rights. Errors usually bite the landlord, not the tenant.
It depends on the agreement. In licensed HMOs with individual room lets and a resident landlord or house manager, the owner is often liable for council tax and bills, priced into rent. Where tenants have a joint whole-house AST, tenants are typically liable. The council's determination follows liability rules, not labels.
Three or more people from two or more households sharing facilities = HMO by definition. Below three occupants, or a single family household, it is not an HMO at all.