I need to specify the maximum number of tenants

tallac

I'm helping my dad to rent a property he owns. I've decided to forgo the usual rip of estate agents and doing it myself via Open Rent. The property is a 3 bedroom house. To avoid any HMO licences or Additional HMO license (https://www.barnet.gov.uk/housing/private-housing/houses-multiple-occupation). My dad has decide to just let it out to a single household family. Technically 2 households with a max of 3 people (i.e. a couple and another person) can still rent without requiring any HMO licencing but I don't think this is a likely situation.

When placing an advert with Open Rent, I need to specify the maximum number of tenants for the house, there is no option to specify the number of households (except in the generic textual description I can write). What does this exactly mean? Are young children of a couple counted as tenants or is it just the adults? What if a couple have older children who are 18+?

[Deleted User]

tallac said:

I'm helping my dad to rent a property he owns. I've decided to forgo the usual rip of estate agents and doing it myself via Open Rent. The property is a 3 bedroom house. To avoid any HMO licences or Additional HMO license (https://www.barnet.gov.uk/housing/private-housing/houses-multiple-occupation). My dad has decide to just let it out to a single household family. Technically 2 households with a max of 3 people (i.e. a couple and another person) can still rent without requiring any HMO licencing but I don't think this is a likely situation.

When placing an advert with Open Rent, I need to specify the maximum number of tenants for the house, there is no option to specify the number of households (except in the generic textual description I can write). What does this exactly mean? Are young children of a couple counted as tenants or is it just the adults? What if a couple have older children who are 18+?

It’s the maximum number of occupants and the number of households that’s important not the maximum number of tenants in terms of HMO licensing. 

https://www.barnet.gov.uk/housing/private-housing/houses-multiple-occupation#title-1

Children under 18 are not tenants. Children 18+ can be either joint tenants with their parents or could be permitted occupiers. 

MaryNB

Bear in mind while you may not require a licence for a couple and a single person, because they form more than one household (unless the single person is related to one of the people in the couple) it will still be an HMO which affects the type of mortgage you need. There are rules that apply to HMOs in general even if a licence is not required - minimum room sizes etc. 

theoretica

My understanding is that the landlord is not required to police tenants' relationships.  If the people all sign the same contract, combine to make one payment and come as a group they can say they are a household. If the landlord finds the tenants one by one and they each have their own separate contract and pay their own rent then HMO probably applies.

[Deleted User]

theoretica said:

My understanding is that the landlord is not required to police tenants' relationships.  If the people all sign the same contract, combine to make one payment and come as a group they can say they are a household. If the landlord finds the tenants one by one and they each have their own separate contract and pay their own rent then HMO probably applies.

Barnet council and the Housing Act 2004 define what constitutes a household for the purposes of a HMO. Applying as a single group of people doesn’t make the applicants a single household. 

A household is defined as persons: -

 who are all members of the same family (including single persons, couples and same sex couples)

 who have other relationships, such as fostering, carers and domestic staff For a more detailed definition, please refer to Section 258 of the Housing Act 2004.

https://www.barnet.gov.uk/sites/default/files/assets/citizenportal/documents/housingandcommunity/HMODefinitionsofterms.docx.pdf