HMO Licence upon completion

[ArjunB]

Hi all,

I’m currently in the process of buying a licensed HMO with 3 sitting tenants upon completion.

Since the HMO Licence isn’t transferable, the property will be an unlicensed HMO upon completion. Does this mean that I will need to evict the tenants upon completion? Or can I apply for the HMO licence within a certain period of time after completion and keep all three preexisting tenants?

Thanks!

Arjun

[Kerry Chan]

Hi @ArjunB

You can apply for a licence to be granted before the licence is required and the licence could come into force at the point when it is required (i.e. the completion date).  The application period differs from council to council. 

You may wish to make the exchange conditional upon the grant of the HMO licence by the local authority to you.  There may also be other ways to structure this sale to allow you to keep the existing tenants in the HMO - you should check with your solicitors to structure this appropriately.  If you would like to discuss further, please do get in touch.

For the avoidance of doubt, the above (a) does not constitute legal advice (and no lawyer-client relationship is formed in any way) and (b) is set out for your reference only.

Kerry