HMO - House of Multiple Occupancy

There have been a few posts over the past about HMOs in the UK. I phoned up Islington Council, London and asked about a HMO I saw for sale. They have said generally it's not a problem changing the usage from HMO to hostel, or student accommodation as they are in the same categories (but different sub-types).

The things they would be looking at would be would the neighbours complaining, is it going to upset the character of the neighbourhood, room sizes (are you going to make them smaller), it is relatively straight forward the converting, but the main thing would be your neighbours complaining. However, if it's a HMO then it's not going to make much difference having a hostel or student accommodation.

You are best checking with the local council, and see what they say, as they will give you some free, informal advice, then you can use that to lodge an application.