Do You Need a Licence for a Shared House in Hounslow?

You've got a three-bedroom house in Hounslow and you're letting it to a group of sharers. Does it need a licence? The answer depends on who's living there and how many households they form — and in Hounslow, the threshold is lower than many landlords expect.

The Three-Person Threshold

Most people associate HMO licensing with large shared houses — five or more tenants. That's the national mandatory HMO licensing threshold, and it applies everywhere in England. But Hounslow runs a borough-wide Additional HMO Licensing Scheme on top of the mandatory scheme, and it kicks in at three persons from two or more separate households sharing basic amenities.

That means a standard three-bedroom house with three unrelated flatmates — each forming their own household under Section 258 of the Housing Act 2004 — is a licensable HMO in Hounslow. Three friends sharing a kitchen and bathroom. Three work colleagues splitting the rent. Three students on individual tenancy agreements. All of these are HMOs that need an additional licence.

When a Shared House Doesn't Need a Licence

Not every shared house hits the threshold:

• Two unrelated sharers — two people from two households sharing a house is below the three-person minimum for additional licensing. Hounslow has no selective licensing scheme, so a two-sharer house doesn't need any licence.
• A single household — a couple with children, or a family, occupying the whole house is one household. No matter how many people are in the family, a single-household occupation isn't an HMO.
• A couple plus one unrelated sharer — that's two households (the couple is one, the sharer is another). If there are three people in total and they share amenities, it meets the three-person, two-household test. This is licensable.
• Resident landlord with up to two lodgers — if you live in the property yourself and have no more than two paying lodgers, the statutory resident landlord exemption under Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004 applies. No licence needed. But add a third lodger and the exemption falls away.

The Household Definition

The most common mistake is miscounting households. Under Section 258 of the Housing Act 2004, a household consists of members of the same family: married or cohabiting couples (including same-sex partners), children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and step-relations.

Everyone else is a separate household. Two friends who aren't related to each other are two households, even if they've known each other for years. An au pair or live-in carer who isn't a family member is a separate household.

Children count as full occupants for headcount purposes. A house occupied by two unrelated adults and one of their children has three persons from two households — that's licensable.

What About a Joint Tenancy?

Having all your tenants on a single joint tenancy agreement doesn't change the analysis. The licensing rules look at the number of persons and the number of households, not the tenancy structure. Three unrelated people on one joint AST are still three households.

Next Steps If Your Shared House Needs a Licence

If your property meets the threshold, you need to apply through Hounslow Council's online licensing portal. The base fee is £1,608 (or £1,509 if you hold a recognised landlord accreditation), plus £25 per household. You'll need a Gas Safety certificate, EICR, fire alarm test report, scaled floor plans, and tenancy agreements.

The Hounslow landlord licensing guide walks through the full process — from counting your households through to submitting on the portal and tracking your application to completion.

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