Houses in Multiple Occupation

Under the BSA, in-occupation duties are limited to higher-risk buildings. Therefore, the BSA will only capture larger HMOs, or HMOs that are part of a wider higher-risk building. However, HMOs will still be governed by the Order’s fire safety regime, which places duties on responsible persons in relation to common areas of all residential buildings.

This is contrasted with the Bill, which imposes specific duties upon HMOs (with some limited exceptions) that are similar (but reduced) to those placed on regulated buildings.

The landlord of an HMO (i.e., the person that manages the HMO by virtue of being an owner or lessee) is a dutyholder under the Bill, along with anyone that has an obligation under a contract or lease to repair or maintain the building.

Landlords are required to ensure that fire safety risks in HMOs are suitably and sufficiently assessed (“HMO fire risk assessment”). As with regulated buildings under the Bill, the assessment must be done by a competent person. The duties relating to HMO fire risk assessments mirror those in relation to regulated building; they must be undertaken within 6 months of occupation or the relevant section coming into effect and reviewed where there are changes, works requiring planning permission or building control, fire damage or a reason to suspect it is no longer valid.

The risks identified in HMO fire risk assessments will need to be addressed by landlords, taking all reasonable steps to prevent fire safety risks from materialising and to reduce the severity of any incident.

Residents in HMOs, where the HMO is not contained in a regulated building, are also under a duty not to do anything that creates a significant risk or interferes with, removes or damages the functioning of anything in the HMO that improves safety.