This entry is part 3 of 7 in the series House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)From 1 October 2010, incorporating changes already made on 6 April 2010, planning rules are changed affecting HMOs. What is an HMO? A simple non legal definition is that a house (or flat) is an HMO if there are three or more unrelated occupiers. There is also another type of HMO under section 257 Housing Act 2004 which provides for certain converted blocks of flats to be...

Joint tenancy or individual tenancies? It is very much a personal choice as to whether a landlord grants a single joint tenancy or multiple tenancies on a per room basis and most landlords have their own preferences. Below is some summarised pros and cons. Further useful details on joint tenancies is available in Guidance note 19 Single Joint Tenancy – Advantages If one tenant leaves university during the term, the council tax exemption...

[Source of below information: Daily Telegraph  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/propertyclinic/5917484/Property-advice-Certificate-of-Lawful-Existing-Use-or-Development.html] John Winter explains what a CLEUD is Yet another acronym – what does it mean? CLEUD stands for Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development. A distinction needs to be made between a CLEUD and a CLOPUD (Certificate of Lawfulness Of Proposed Use or...

The question of council tax and who is liable can often arise. Many local authorities will attempt to claim the landlord is always liable whatever the situation but what is the position? For this article, it is assumed that your tenancy agreement contains a provision that the tenant is liable to pay for the council tax. Owner always liable An owner is always liable for the following properties regardless of what it might say in the tenancy...

It is clear that a true bedsit type accommodation where all facilities are shared can not be self contained accommodation and therefore the council tax banding will be for the entire house. It is also clear that where a house has been split into fully self contained flats where they have their own kitchen, bathroom and WC for exclusive use, these self contained flats have their own banding. However, what is the position where you have a...