Portsmouth HMO Room Size Requirements

Portsmouth enforces both the national statutory bedroom minimums and its own local amenity standards, and the local figures are more demanding for doubles, kitchens and shared living spaces. Getting room sizes wrong will not just fail the licence application — undersized rooms cannot be used as sleeping accommodation at all.

Bedroom Minimums

The national minimum under SI 2018/616 is 6.51 m² for a single bedroom (one person aged 10 or over) and 10.22 m² for a double. Portsmouth matches the single at 6.51 m² but sets its own double standard at 11.50 m², rising to 14.00 m² if the property has no separate communal living room.

Rooms below 4.64 m² cannot be used as sleeping accommodation under any circumstances. Children under 10 may occupy a room of at least 4.64 m².

Any part of a room where the ceiling height is below 1.5 metres is excluded from the floor area calculation. The room must also have a minimum ceiling height of 2.3 metres over at least 75% of the usable floor area, and bedrooms must be at least 2.15 metres wide.

Kitchen Standards

Kitchen minimums depend on occupancy:

• 3–5 occupants: 7.00 m² minimum, with at least 1.8m width for a single-wall layout or 2.4m for a galley kitchen
• 6–10 occupants: 11.00 m², and the council expects dual cooker and sink sets or commercial-grade units

Combined open-plan kitchen-living spaces have their own thresholds: 24.00 m² for 3–5 occupants and 34.00 m² for 6–10.

Bathroom and WC Ratios

Portsmouth sets specific sanitary provision ratios:

• 1–4 occupants: one bathroom with bath or shower, and one WC (can be in the same room). Minimum full bathroom size is 3.74 m² (shower room: 2.74 m²)
• 5 occupants: one bathroom with bath or shower, plus one separate WC with a wash hand basin
• 6–10 occupants: two separate bathrooms, plus two separate WCs with wash hand basins (one WC may be inside a bathroom)
• 11–15 occupants: three bathrooms and three WCs

Standalone WC compartments must be at least 1,300mm × 900mm (1.17 m²) with a wash hand basin supplied with constant hot and cold water.

Communal Living Space

If the property provides a separate communal living room, it must be at least 11.00 m² for 3–5 occupants. The space cannot be split across multiple rooms.

How This Affects Your Metric Floor Plan

Every measurement on your floor plan must be in square metres, with room usage labelled. The council checks these dimensions against both the national and local standards when assessing the application. Rooms that fall short are excluded from the permitted occupancy count, which may reduce the number of tenants you can accommodate — or push you below the threshold where the licence is financially viable.

Our Portsmouth Landlord Licensing Guide includes a floor plan reference sheet with all measurement thresholds and an amenity standards checklist.

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