HMO and selective licensing
When a rented home needs a licence, and how to check.
Last reviewed 30 September 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Mandatory HMO licensing
In England, a house in multiple occupation (HMO) must be licensed if five or more people, forming more than one household, live there and share facilities such as a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. In Wales, mandatory licensing applies only if the HMO also has three or more storeys. Councils in England and Wales can also require licences for smaller HMOs (additional licensing) or for all privately rented homes in a designated area (selective licensing). Scotland has its own system: an HMO there generally needs a licence if three or more people from more than two families live in it as their main home.
Checking a property
Councils in England and Wales must keep a register of the HMO and selective licences they have granted and let anyone inspect it at their main office; many also publish it online. There is no national register: each council keeps its own, in its own format. Contact the council for the area, or search its website for "HMO register".
Why we do not republish these registers
HMO registers name individual licence holders and managers, frequently including their home addresses. Councils publish them for the specific purpose of identifying licensed properties, and several state explicitly that they are not to be used for marketing. Aggregating them into a national directory would go beyond that purpose, so we link to the source instead.