HMO Room Size Requirements: A Comprehensive Guide
Updated: March 2025 This is Part 1 in our series on HMO Room Size Requiements. As an HMO landlord or investor, it’s important to find balance between your property giving you a high return while also providing high quality living conditions for your occupants. With this in mind, the government in the UK, as well as local planning authorities, offer guidelines on HMO minimum room sizes to ensure that living spaces are comfortable and suitable for your tenants. If you let a large HMO, meaning that the property has five or more tenants, you will need a mandatory HMO licence. In this type of property, the occupants will share rooms and facilities such as bathrooms, kitchens and living spaces. From October 2018, the mandatory licence was extended to cover restrictions on room sizing and overcrowding in these types of properties. Minimum room sizes were imposed by law, meaning that HMO landlords must abide by these restrictions or face potential fines or prosecution, under the conditions of their licence. It’s important to note that on top of national rules for minimum sizes in HMOs, each local council will have their own expectations and recommendations that you will need to follow. Jump To HMO Minimum Room Sizes Bedroom Room Size Requirements As a landlord, you are responsible for ensuring that your HMO bedroom sizes are in line with the guidelines outlined in The Housing Act 2004. When measuring up your bedrooms, you must ensure they meet the following minimum sizes: Occupancy Minimum Bedroom Size for HMO One child under the age of 10 4.64 square metres One occupant over 10 years of age 6.52 square metres Two occupants over 10 years of age 10.22 square metres Table of floor space bedroom size requirements in HMOs In addition, when measuring up the room, you must include the full floor area only where the ceiling is higher than 1.5m. Any part of the room that has a ceiling height of under 1.5m, such as a loft bedroom, cannot be used in the overall floor space measurement. Bedroom Height Requirements There is no minimum height for a room under building regulations. However, other legislation or local councils can have certain criteria set. Some local authorities require room heights of around 2.3m over at least 75% of the usable room area as a minimum requirement. In addition, any floor area where the ceiling height is less than 1.9m will not count towards the habitable floor space. However, there can be some exceptions to this depending on the type of property. This includes HMO bedrooms such as: It is best to check with your local planning authority the height requirements that will apply to your specific HMO. An HMO expert can help provide more clarity on this if needed. Kitchen Size Requirements Given the nature of HMO living, it’s important to have a spacious kitchen that can accommodate a large number of people all sharing the same space. To ensure that the kitchen is suitable for HMO tenants, there are rules on HMO kitchen size requirements. As per the bedroom requirements, there can be some differences from council to council, but the smallest size for an HMO kitchen is 7m2. It must also be no smaller than 1.8 metres across the narrowest area of the room. If you have more than 5 tenants, an additional square metre is required per tenant up to 10m2 and up to 10 tenants. If the number of occupants exceeds 10, another kitchen is required. It’s worth noting that there should also be an additional living room or dining room with a minimum size of 11m2. This means that general single HMO kitchen requirements are: Occupancy Minimum Kitchen Size for HMO Up to 5 tenants 7m2 From 6-10 tenants Between 8m2 – 10m2 More than 10 tenants Second kitchen required Table of floor space kitchen size requirements in HMOs These restrictions outlined above as strictly related to the size of the kitchen, and you should be aware that there are other requirements on general facilities in the kitchen that you also need to be aware of including: Cooking Facilities Occpuancy Cooking Facility Requirements Up to 5 tenants a 4 ring cooker, oven and grill From 6-10 tenants a 4+ ring cooker and oven with a grill or additional microwave More than 10 tenants 2 cookers with 4 rings Table of cooking facility requirements for HMOs Worktop Sizes Occupancy Worktop Size Requirements Up to 5 tenants 2m x 0.6m From 6-10 tenants 3m x 0.6m Table of worktop size requirements for HMOs Food Cupboards & Storage Sink & Drainer Occupancy Sink & Drainer Requirements Up to 5 tenants 1 single sink with a drainer From 6-10 tenants 1 double-bowled sink with a drainer or a 1 single sink and dishwasher More than 10 tenants 2 sinks Table of sink and drainer requirements for HMOs It’s worth noting that these regulations include absolute minimum sizes, so while they may be within the requirements of the law, you should still consider as a landlord whether the space is suitable and comfortable for the number of tenants you are responsible for. A spacious and non-crowded HMO is less likely to suffer from damage or serious maintenance issues and great interior design is a core selling point for HMO investments, so it’s a win-win for tenants and landlords. HMO Kitchen Size Requirements: Every rule and regulation > Bathroom Size Requirements The bathroom requirements for HMOs aim to ensure that tenants are comfortable and not running into issues when sharing their space. Too many tenants sharing the bathroom can lead to a higher risk of health and safety issues as well as general maintenance and upkeep problems. While restrictions can vary from council to council, in general the ratio is 1 bathroom for every 4 tenants. However, for large HMOs over 5 tenants, you will need separate toilets from the main bathroom so that your occupants aren’t having trouble with showers or baths being occupied when they