HMOs sell to investors, who buy income they can finance, licence and keep. In our experience, most HMOs that sit unsold at their asking price fail one of six checks a buyer runs before making an offer. The six are:
- A licence that is in place and can be inspected.
- A lawful planning position.
- Rooms that meet the legal minimum.
- A rent schedule that survives the net calculation.
- Condition and an EPC that will still be lettable.
- A price set on the basis the buyer’s valuer will actually use.
Miss one and the price usually falls. Miss two and many buyers walk away.
In short
- In our experience, most HMOs unsold at their asking price fail one of six checks: licence, planning, room sizes, net rent, condition/EPC, or valuation basis.
- Operating without a licence carries a civil penalty of up to £40,000 per offence.
- An Article 4 direction can remove the right to convert a house into an HMO without planning permission.
- Minimum room sizes are 6.51m² for one person aged over ten, 10.22m² for two, and 4.64m² for a child under ten.
- Valuers use a bricks and mortar basis or a commercial investment basis; small HMOs default to bricks and mortar.
If you would rather skip the checklist, get a free desktop valuation: send us the address and the rent schedule and you will have an evidence-backed range within 24 hours.
The HMO licence comes first for a buyer
A house let to five or more people from two or more households needs a mandatory HMO licence under the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Description) (England) Order 2018, and many councils license smaller HMOs under additional schemes of their own. The licence does not come with the building.
Section 68(6) of the Housing Act 2004 says “A licence may not be transferred to another person”, so the buyer must apply for a fresh one and is exposed from completion day, as we set out in HMO licences do not transfer.
Operating a licensable HMO without a licence carries a civil penalty of up to £40,000 per offence, raised from £30,000 on 1 May 2026.
That is why a buyer’s first request is the file, and the yield comes second. A current licence, the council’s last inspection letter, the fire risk assessment and the gas and electrical certificates tell the buyer the property has been run as a licensed HMO and is likely to be licensed again. A seller who cannot produce them is selling a building with a risk attached, and the offer is priced for the risk.
Planning decides whether the HMO can continue
A family house sits in use class C3. A small HMO of three to six unrelated occupants sits in class C4, and the right to switch between the two without a planning application can be removed by an Article 4 direction.
Where a direction applies, a house converted after its date without permission may be an unlawful use, and a buyer prices the chance of being made to revert. Our Article 4 guide explains the mechanism.
Our piece on how councils are refusing new HMOs shows how it plays out where a direction is already in force. An HMO with more than six residents falls outside class C4 and needs planning permission in its own right.
The document that settles it is a planning permission, or a certificate of lawful existing use where the HMO predates the direction. Without one, the buyer’s solicitor raises it, and the sale waits on the answer.
Rooms and what the HMO nets
Licensed HMOs in England carry mandatory minimum room sizes, under the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) (England) Regulations 2018:
A buyer measures. A six-room HMO with two rooms under the adult minimum is a four-room HMO to the licensing officer, and the rent schedule shrinks to match.
The buyer then works from net: rent less bills, voids, management, the licence fee and council tax. Council tax has been one band for the whole HMO, billed to the owner, since December 2023.
A schedule showing twelve months of actual receipts with the bills alongside is worth more than a projection, because the buyer does not have to discount it. What the gross number hides often decides whether a buyer offers or passes.
Condition, EPC and what the valuer will say
Since 1 April 2020 a landlord cannot let a property with an EPC rating below E unless a valid exemption is registered, under the minimum energy efficiency standard.
The government has confirmed its intention to raise the standard for all tenancies by 1 October 2030 with investment capped at £10,000 per property, a design that still awaits an Act and a statutory instrument, as we set out in EPC C by 2030. A buyer with a 2030 horizon prices the works in.
A D-rated HMO with a costed plan is still saleable, and one with no plan sells for less.
Then comes the valuation, and it is where we see HMO sales stall most often. Valuers working to RICS guidance use two bases:
Bricks and mortar basis
Compares the building with local house sales and largely ignores the HMO use.
Commercial investment basis
Capitalises the net income at a yield.
It applies where the scale and planning status make reversion to a house unrealistic, where an Article 4 direction has made consented HMOs a constrained asset class, and where sales of comparable tenanted HMOs exist to set the yield. For small HMOs the default is bricks and mortar, as we explained in HMO valuations: bricks and mortar or commercial basis.
An owner asking an income price for a building the buyer’s lender will value as bricks has priced the property for a buyer who cannot borrow to pay it. That usually leaves cash buyers, and they price in the fact that few others can bid.
What this means if your HMO will not sell
For an owner, the six checks are the value. Three of them can be fixed before the property is marketed: get the licence and the certificates in order, count the rooms against the standard and list the honest number, and price on the basis the buyer’s valuer will use. The planning position and the EPC can at least be documented, and a costed plan is the next best thing to a completed one.
Buyers use the same list as their due diligence. An HMO that passes all six holds its price, and each check it fails gives a buyer a reason to ask for less.
This is general information, not advice on your position, so take independent advice before acting.
If you own an HMO and want to know where it stands, get a free desktop valuation: send us the address and the rent schedule and you will have an evidence-backed range within 24 hours, yours whether you sell or not. If you are buying, run the same six checks on the HMOs on our books.