HMO licensing in Hounslow Council

Which licence a shared rented home in Hounslow needs depends on how many people live there.

• Mandatory HMO licensing covers HMOs where 5 or more people live as two or more households.^[27]
• Additional HMO licensing covers HMOs of 3 or more people from two or more households anywhere in the borough, and some converted blocks of flats in single ownership. It runs from 11 December 2025 to 10 December 2030.^[16]
• Selective licensing is not run in Hounslow, so there is no licence for a home let to a single household. The council's housing strategy says it will investigate a selective scheme.^[16]

The council designated the current additional scheme on 11 September 2025. It replaces a borough-wide scheme that ran from 2020 until 31 July 2025 and did not cover flats in purpose-built blocks of 3 or more flats. A licence normally lasts five years.^[16]

Subject to statutory exemptions, a large HMO shared by at least five people from more than one household needs a mandatory licence anywhere in England. The property licensing guide sets out the national tests that sit behind every local scheme.^[27]

Hounslow publishes its register of licensed HMOs as a downloadable spreadsheet on its open-data site. For each address it gives the ward, the number of households and occupants permitted, and the licence expiry date. The council says the register shows only licences it has issued, so a landlord who has applied but is still waiting will not appear.^[23]

1. Download the council's register of licensed HMOs. Register of licensed HMOs (opens in new tab)^[23]
2. Search the exact address. Save a dated screenshot or download of the result. Councils must keep a register of licences, temporary exemption notices and management orders and make it available for inspection.^[29]
3. Ask about applications and exemptions. A missing entry is a reason to investigate, not proof of an offence, so ask whether a licence, application or exemption covered the dates you rented there.^[32]
4. Report or ask in writing. housing.enforcement@hounslow.gov.uk. To report a suspected unlicensed HMO, or one breaking its licence conditions, use the housing enquiry form on the council's report-an-HMO page (opens in new tab), or email housing.enforcement@hounslow.gov.uk.^[24] Ask for a reference number and keep the reply.

Hounslow's licence conditions set out what a landlord must do in a licensed HMO. They include:

• displaying the licence in a shared area, or giving each tenant a copy
• a smoke alarm on every floor, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fuel-burning appliance other than a gas cooker
• carrying out urgent electrical safety work within 28 days of the safety report
• minimum bedroom sizes, and no room under the smallest size used for sleeping
• giving each tenant written terms and telling them how to report repairs and emergencies
• protecting any deposit in a government scheme
• inspecting the property at least every six months^[25]

• National conditions are the floor. Every licence carries the prescribed conditions on gas, electrics, alarms, tenancy terms and waste, and can last up to five years; the property licensing guide lists them in full.^[30]
• Compare the licence with reality. The register entry or licence may identify the manager, the permitted occupancy and property-specific conditions. Check those details against how the home is actually occupied and managed.
• Keep separate evidence of hazards. A licence does not establish continuing compliance. Report disrepair or an immediate safety risk separately, and keep photographs, messages and certificates.

Check the register's expiry date and permitted occupancy. An earlier borough-wide scheme covered most smaller shared houses from 2020 to 31 July 2025, and no additional scheme applied from 1 August to 10 December 2025. Shared flats in purpose-built blocks of 3 or more flats were first covered on 11 December 2025. Ask the council which scheme, if any, covered your rental dates.^[16][23]

1. Confirm the scheme and dates. Match the address, occupancy and rental period to the designation in force at the time.
2. Ask the council in writing. housing.enforcement@hounslow.gov.uk. Ask Hounslow Council whether an effective application or temporary exemption existed and when it took effect.^[24]
3. Check the legal position. An application, an exemption, a reasonable excuse or the identity of the person legally responsible (the "person managing or controlling" the property) can all affect whether an offence is proved.^[32]
4. Preserve the evidence. Keep the tenancy, rent payments, proof of occupation, dated searches and council correspondence.

For a licensing offence committed on or after the 1 May 2026 rule change, a tenant can ask the First-tier Tribunal for up to two years' rent, and normally has two years from the offence to apply. The tenant must prove the offence beyond reasonable doubt, and the tribunal decides any award from the statutory factors and evidence; recovery is never automatic.^[33] Older offence periods may be governed by earlier limits. Free housing advice is available from Shelter and Citizens Advice, and local law centres can help with tribunal cases.