The minimum bedroom sizes for a licensed HMO
A licensed house in multiple occupation must meet national minimum sleeping room sizes. The rules count only usable floor area, so any part of the room where the ceiling is lower than 1.5 metres is left out. That matters in loft rooms and under sloping roofs.
| Who sleeps in the room | Minimum usable floor area |
|---|---|
| One person aged 10 or over | 6.51 square metres |
| Two people | 10.22 square metres |
| One child under 10 | 4.64 square metres |
A worked example
A loft bedroom measures 9.4 square metres on the floor, and 1.6 square metres of it sits under a ceiling lower than 1.5 metres. The area that counts is 7.8 square metres. That meets the 6.51 square metre minimum for one adult, but it is far short of the 10.22 square metres needed for two people. In a house share we never let a room to a couple for exactly that reason, and because a second person in a room can take the house to five occupiers and trigger a licence.
Where this fits
Room size is one part of HMO licensing, alongside fire safety, the Management Regulations and planning permission under the Article 4 Direction that applies across Tameside. Our HMO licence guide covers the whole picture, and our HMO management service runs licensed house shares for landlords in Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge, Hyde and across Tameside.