Coliving software for UK shared houses
Bricky Bot is coliving software that does the work: an AI lettings team for shared houses that fills rooms, runs the house chats, moves residents in and out and keeps track of rent for every room. Nothing goes out until you approve it.
The short answer
Co-living management is room-by-room work: rooms re-let one at a time, a tenancy, deposit and rent for each person, bills included in the rent, a busy house chat and a steady stream of move-ins and move-outs. In the UK most coliving houses are HMOs, so licensing applies too, and the owner pays the council tax (our council tax checker shows the bill per room). Bricky Bot does that work for you as a team of AI staff, and every message waits for a person’s ✅.
Built running real shared houses
Luke Ashton, founder of Bricky Bot and Based Lettings. Five years in property, responsible for 150+ HMO rooms across his own portfolio and clients’. Based Lettings’ houses are let room by room, with bills included and a house chat each. Here’s what Bricky Bot runs today:
From Based Lettings’ own Bricky Bot records on 7 October 2026. Houses have four to eight rooms, and bills are included in 20 of the 21 where that’s recorded.
What coliving software needs to do
Whatever you choose, check it covers these six jobs, because they’re where a coliving house differs from a single let. Here’s how Bricky Bot handles each one.
| The job | Why it’s harder in coliving | What Bricky Bot does |
|---|---|---|
| Rooms, not units | A house of five to eight people is five to eight tenancies, each with its own rent, deposit and dates | Every room has its own record, asking rent and deposit, and its own tenancy. One view shows the empty rooms, and another shows who moves in and out over the next 60 days. |
| Filling rooms | Someone is always leaving, so adverts, enquiries and viewings never stop | Posts and updates room adverts on your own SpareRoom and OpenRent accounts, with the minimum and maximum term and the date each room is free, and renews SpareRoom adverts as they come due. Every enquiry is followed on one tracker through viewings and referencing to a signed tenancy. |
| Bills-included houses | One rent covers the room, the bills and the WiFi, and residents compare on that price | The house record holds whether bills are included, which ones and any fair-use cap, and the adverts carry it. Utility bills are logged as costs against the house. |
| The house community | A group of people who chose to share, plus a chat that never sleeps | Runs a WhatsApp community, a house chat and a group per room for each house, linked to its record. Every incoming message gets an owner and a reply drafted for your approval. |
| Move-ins, move-outs and room moves | Short stays mean more handovers: keys, codes, deposits, inventories | A checklist for each move: right to rent, deposit, inventory signed, a welcome email with the WiFi, bins, cleaning and house rules, and keys. On the way out: checkout, clean, deposit return. A resident who changes room keeps their deposit and their groups. |
| Rent per room | Many small payments, from many people, on different days | Matches each payment from your bank statements to the right room and remembers who pays from which account. Late and part-paid rent is flagged, and landlord statements are prepared for you. |
The house chats are covered in detail on our landlord tenant communication app page, and repairs in shared kitchens and bathrooms on landlord maintenance software. Every record a coliving operator keeps, from rooms to certificates, is on our letting agent CRM page. Renting your houses from their owners on guaranteed rent? See our rent to rent software page.
The rules a coliving house meets
“Coliving” isn’t a legal category in England. A shared house is judged by the HMO rules, and Bricky Bot tracks the licence and every certificate on the house record; see our landlord compliance reporting app page.
| Question | What the law says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Is it an HMO? | Under the standard test, a house is an HMO when the people living in it don’t form a single household, live there as their only or main home, and share a basic amenity such as a kitchen or bathroom. Most coliving houses meet it. | Housing Act 2004, s. 254(2) |
| Does it need a licence? | An HMO occupied by five or more people living in two or more households needs a mandatory HMO licence from the council. Some councils license smaller HMOs too. | The Licensing of HMOs (Prescribed Descriptions) (England) Order 2018, art. 4 |
| Planning use class | Class C4 covers a house used as an HMO by no more than six residents. A larger shared house falls outside C4, and an Article 4 direction can remove the right to switch to C4 without permission. | Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, class C4 |
For the detail, see our guides to HMO licences and Article 4 and HMOs; to check a specific address, Bricksmart’s HMO report (our sister product) covers licensing and Article 4.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules. Larger purpose-built co-living blocks are a different planning question; this page is about shared houses.
Smaller shared houses and classic HMOs? See HMO management software. Whole houses and flats as well? See landlord software. Running rooms for other owners? See lettings agent software, and the UK rules every let has to meet on our property management software UK page.
How it works
- A team, not a tool. Specialist AI staff for enquiries, listings, move-ins and move-outs, maintenance, landlord reporting, records and inbox triage, with Bricky in charge. What an AI lettings team is.
- You approve everything that goes out, in the app or straight from WhatsApp, and every action is logged.
- Your accounts, your data. Bricky signs in to your own SpareRoom, OpenRent and WhatsApp accounts; it isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by them. It runs on your own Mac or Mac mini, or on Bricky Cloud.
- Your AI plan. It uses the AI plan you already have, such as a ChatGPT plan, so you pay your provider directly.
- Switching is included. We move your records and documents across from COHO, Arthur or spreadsheets.
- What it isn’t. No nightly bookings or short-stay channel, no booking checkout, resident app or payment portal, no cleaning rota and no community events calendar. It never holds or moves money.
What it costs
One price per tenant, everything included, with the AI plan you already have. See the pricing calculator for your portfolio. Weighing up a new house? Try our rental yield calculator.
Is Bricky Bot right for you?
Compare coliving software
- Bricky Bot vs COHO, the HMO and co-living software
- Bricky Bot vs Arthur Online
- Bricky Bot vs Latch
- Bricky Bot vs spreadsheets and WhatsApp
- Best AI lettings software in the UK (2026)
Questions coliving operators ask
What is coliving software?
Software for running shared houses where each person rents a room and shares the kitchen, living space and often the bills: filling rooms one at a time, a tenancy and rent for every room, the house chat, moves in and out, repairs and the safety and licensing rules. Bricky Bot does that work as a team of AI staff, and a person approves what goes out.
Is a coliving house an HMO?
In England, usually yes. A house shared by people who aren’t one household, as their main home, with a shared kitchen or bathroom meets the standard HMO test in the Housing Act 2004. With five or more people it needs a mandatory licence. Our HMO licence guide explains the rest.
Does it handle nightly or short stays?
No. Bricky Bot is built for residents who make the house their home for months. Adverts carry a minimum and maximum term, and tenancies can be periodic, fixed-term, licence or company lets. There is no nightly booking engine or holiday-let channel.
Can residents book or pay online?
Not inside Bricky Bot. Each room can appear on your own listings page with an Enquire button that feeds the lead tracker, but there is no booking checkout, resident app or payment portal. Rent is paid to your own account, and Bricky matches it from your bank statements; it never holds or moves money.
Does Bricky Bot message residents on its own?
No. The AI staff draft replies, adverts and bookings, and a person approves each one, in the app or straight from WhatsApp. The only automatic replies are ones you switch on yourself.
Can I move my houses across from COHO or a spreadsheet?
Yes. We move your houses, rooms, tenancies, people, certificates and documents across, and imported records are checked for completeness like ones typed in.
Who built it?
Luke Ashton, founder of Bricky Bot and Based Lettings, who is responsible for 150+ HMO rooms across his own portfolio and clients’. Based Lettings runs on Bricky Bot.
See it run a coliving house
A short demo on real shared houses: room adverts, enquiries, the house chats, move-ins and rent per room, with your approval on everything.
Book a demo