Renting from family and we need some HMO help

craigs911

Hi ladies and gentlemen, i'll try to include some information sorry if it's not all relevant

In a few months possibly around april, I will be renting a property from my mother and step dad, I will be staying where i am while they move into a new build next door

we need some help as we are finding it hard to find the correct information about households/HMO and if they need a HMO license

when i rent the house it will consist of 4 adults, 3 of whom are family members, Step brother, Grandfather, myself and my partner who will be moving in once im renting.

In this case would this be considered a household or would my parents need a hmo license?

sorry if its a silly question but we couldn't find anything that provides information on what will be our arrangement and what information there was seemed confusing.

G_M

Sound like you are all family. Partner is part of the family.


Ignore the HMO aspect.


Your mum should howeer treat this as a rental and take a deposit, name you all on a written contract, prepare and inventory, and comply with the 101 other landlord requirements.


* New landlords: advice, information & links

PasturesNew

You're family.

The essence of HMO is: if a fire breaks out, will anybody "care" about the others, or even know if they're in/out, or who they are. You're all "one family" in essence and if it all burnt to the ground you'd all be helping each other escape - and know who was in the house....

With an HMO, complete strangers couldn't give a toss who is there, probably don't know their names, maybe haven't even ever seen them....

RentzNet

Hi Craig911.. I'm not an expert but in general terms..

The property is an HMO if it has 3 or more tenants from more than one family or household, and you are sharing a toilet, bathroom or kitchen.

There are some other important aspects and that is the definition of a Household. Basically if the people living there are from the same family or are living together (including same-sex relationships).

So in your situation I would suggest that the house would be considered as ONE household and therefore would NOT be an HMO. But that said, different local authorities have their own rules so it would be advisable to contact the local HMO officer in your area to ask advice.

The other important thing to note is that even if your house is considered and HMO, you don’t have to get an HMO license until you have 5+ people from 2 or more households. As you only have 4 people living there you should NOT need a license. But if you have a friend move in then you would automatically be considered an HMO and would need a license..

But please check with your local authority because they do tend to have their own rules… Good luck.

iamtati

contact gov uk website and find out what type of a licence do you guys need and what's he cost of it.

AlexMac

Despite the good overall advice from

RentzNet wrote: »

... please check with your local authority because they do tend to have their own rules… Good luck.

I'd ignore this last sentance. I fear you are complicating things unnecessarily. If it looks like a family of three plus a co-habiting partner, it is a family. I'd be very reluctant to let the Local Authority start raking about my family's affairs in similar circumstances. Bureaucrats are notoriously over-cautious- I used to be one!

So I'd not approach the Council. Let alone start having to explain to the Home and Contents insurer (who presumably rate HMOs as higher risk?)

The more important issue (to protect your parents interests) is to do what G_M and others say and set up a proper Assured Shorthold tenancy; including deciding whether the 4 of you will be individually liable for a share of rent, or "jointly and severally" responsible for the lot. At least that will let the parents get rid of some or all of you if you all fall out!

An afterthought; while your parents might not yet have thought about the tax implications, do reassure them that (in the event that they agree with me that "honesty is the best policy" and that they should declare the rental income), it's far easier than they might think.

The Taxman might not even ask them to fill in a full online self-assessment. A couple of years ago HMRC suggested I stop filing annual tax returns on our pensions and small BTL income and that they could just work on an averaged estimate instead. (I refused as I know that if my wife and I do our own tax returns, we and the fairly user-friendly software get it right!)