House of Multiple Occupation (HMO)
What is an HMO?
An HMO is defined in law for Council Tax purposes as a property that:
- was originally constructed or subsequently adapted for occupation by persons who do not constitute a single household (some of these properties will hold a HMO licence from Newham Council, some may not), or
- is inhabited by a person who, or by two or more persons each of whom, either is a tenant of, or has a licence to occupy, part only of the dwelling; or has a licence to occupy but is not liable (whether alone or jointly with other persons) to pay rent or a licence fee in respect of the dwelling as a whole.
Please note that the criteria for Council Tax HMOs are different to that of the housing criteria of an HMO. If you are a landlord of a House of Multiple Occupation, where your tenants have their own room and shared facilities (this includes where tenants have access to only part of the property), the landlord will be responsible for the Council Tax liability regardless of whether you have tenants in or not.
HMO properties with tenants that are all students
If all the tenants in the HMO property are students, you as the person responsible for the Council Tax can be granted the full student exemption, if a student certificate for all the tenants has been provided.
The student certificate must:
- be for the current academic year
- show the start and end dates of the course, and
- show the name of the establishment they are studying at, and
- confirm the course is fulltime (over 21 hours per week and lasts over 24 weeks)
Where one resident is a non-student, regardless of the number of students who also live there, the owner or landlord will be liable for payment of 75% of the whole charge. If there are 2 or more nonstudents, a full charge will be payable by the owner or landlord.
Landlords or agents should gather the student proof at the time of tenancy sign up. You can provide the information to us by using the dedicated landlord change of tenancy form on Citizens Access.
