3 bed HMO Scotland

fisherja84

was wondering if anyone had any experience of applying for an HMO licence in Scotland.

I have the following questions:

Is the HMO licence granted specifically related to the number of rooms; i.e is there a separate 3bed,4bed and 5bed HMO licence or is it a blanket licence that allows you to rent to as many as legally possible.

How onerous are the regulations or is it a case of basic common sense and safety.

The reason I ask, I purchased a 3 bed flat in a student town a few years ago. I was originally renting the place to my sister and her 2 kids however she has decided to get married and move in with her fiancee.

The flat its self is a generous 3-bed sandstone wth a massive living room and an enormous kitchen/living area.
The flat already meets all the standards as outlined in the HMO rules for the local council, fire/gas/electrical safety etc.

I can command a much greater return renting each room individually to students and if I was to convert the living room to another bedroom I could get an even greater return whilst each tenant having more than ample living space.

in order to rent out to 3 individual people, I would need to apply for an HMO licence which as I understand can take 12 months + which, as I understand it correctly I am unable to rent the flat out while the licence is in progress, is this correct?

Does anyone have any experience of applying for an HMO licence for 3 persons only? I would imagine that the level of work required on the property would be rather small as the house was designed to house 5 people comfortably?