HMO inspection checklist (free, Word or PDF)
A free HMO inspection checklist for landlords in England. Tell it about the house (storeys, bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, licensed or not) and it lists every check, area by area, with the rule each one comes from. Tick Pass, Fix or N/A as you walk round, check each bedroom’s size against the licence minimum, and download it as Word or print it as a PDF. Use it before a council visit, for a routine inspection, or for a monthly check of the shared areas.
Luke AshtonFounder of Bricky Bot and Based Lettings · Updated Free HMO inspection checklist
Bedrooms and sizes (floor area in m², and who sleeps there)
Measure the floor only where the ceiling is at least 1.5 m high: lower parts don’t count.
The checks (0 of 62 done)
Documents and notices · 0/8
Manager’s name, address and phone number on display in a prominent placeHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 3
Licence and its conditions to hand; number of occupiers within the licenceHousing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 1A(3) and licence
Written statement of terms given to every occupierHousing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 5
Gas safety record from the last 12 months, with a copy given to the tenantsGas Safety Regs 1998 reg 36; Housing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 2
Electrical installation report (EICR) less than 5 years old, with a copy given to the tenantsElectrical Safety Regs 2020 reg 3
Electrical appliances and furniture you supply are safe; fire labels on upholstered furnitureHousing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 3; Furniture (Fire) Regs 1988
Fire risk assessment for the shared parts, up to dateFire Safety Order 2005
Alarm and emergency lighting tests loggedGood practice
Outside and bins · 0/5
Enough bins for every household, and rubbish not piling upHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 9
Shared yards, forecourts and outbuildings clean and in repair; garden safe and tidyHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(4)
Boundary walls, fences and railings safeHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(4)(c)
Gutters, drains and outside pipes clear and in repairLandlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(a)
No way onto an unsafe roof or balconyHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 4(5)(a)
Fire safety and escape routes · 0/8
Escape routes clear (no bikes, bins or furniture) and in good repairHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 4(1)
Fire doors close by themselves and shut fully into the frame; seals intactHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 4(1)(b)
Fire blankets, extinguishers and the fire alarm panel (where fitted) in working orderHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 4(2)
Fire escape signs clearly visibleHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 4(3)
Ground floor: smoke alarm present and workingSmoke and CO Alarm Regs 2015 reg 4; Housing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 4
First floor: smoke alarm present and workingSmoke and CO Alarm Regs 2015 reg 4; Housing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 4
Carbon monoxide alarm working in every room with a boiler, fire or stove (not a gas cooker)Smoke and CO Alarm Regs 2015 reg 4; Housing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 4A
Windows with a sill at or near floor level have bars or other safeguardsHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 4(5)(b)
Hallways, stairs and landings · 0/6
Shared areas clean and in good decorative repairHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(1)
Handrails and banisters secure; stair carpet or covering firmly fixedHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(2)(a)–(c)
Every light in the halls, stairs and landings worksHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(2)(e)
Windows and ventilation in the shared areas in repairHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(2)(d)
No leaks; water tanks covered; pipes at risk of frost protectedHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 5
Heating and hot water workingLandlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(b)–(c)
Kitchen · 0/4
Cooker, sink, taps, worktops and cupboards clean and workingHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(2)(f)
Fridges, freezers and other shared appliances in clean working orderHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(2)(f)
Fire blanket in place and usableHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 4(2)
Extractor fan or window ventilation works; no damp or mouldHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(2)(d)
Bathroom 1 · 0/3
Toilet, basin and bath or shower work and drain; no leaksHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 5; Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(b)
Hot water runsLandlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(b)
Extractor fan works; no damp or mould; sealant intactHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(2)(d)
Bathroom 2 · 0/3
Toilet, basin and bath or shower work and drain; no leaksHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 5; Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(b)
Hot water runsLandlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(b)
Extractor fan works; no damp or mould; sealant intactHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 7(2)(d)
Room 1 · 0/5
Floor area right for the number sleeping thereHousing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 1A
Walls, ceiling, floor, door and lock in repairHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(a)
Fixtures, fittings and any appliances supplied in repair and clean working orderHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(b)
Window opens, closes and locks; no damp or mouldHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(c)
Radiator or heater worksLandlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(c)
Room 2 · 0/5
Floor area right for the number sleeping thereHousing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 1A
Walls, ceiling, floor, door and lock in repairHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(a)
Fixtures, fittings and any appliances supplied in repair and clean working orderHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(b)
Window opens, closes and locks; no damp or mouldHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(c)
Radiator or heater worksLandlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(c)
Room 3 · 0/5
Floor area right for the number sleeping thereHousing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 1A
Walls, ceiling, floor, door and lock in repairHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(a)
Fixtures, fittings and any appliances supplied in repair and clean working orderHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(b)
Window opens, closes and locks; no damp or mouldHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(c)
Radiator or heater worksLandlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(c)
Room 4 · 0/5
Floor area right for the number sleeping thereHousing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 1A
Walls, ceiling, floor, door and lock in repairHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(a)
Fixtures, fittings and any appliances supplied in repair and clean working orderHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(b)
Window opens, closes and locks; no damp or mouldHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(c)
Radiator or heater worksLandlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(c)
Room 5 · 0/5
Floor area right for the number sleeping thereHousing Act 2004 Sch 4 para 1A
Walls, ceiling, floor, door and lock in repairHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(a)
Fixtures, fittings and any appliances supplied in repair and clean working orderHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(b)
Window opens, closes and locks; no damp or mouldHMO Management Regs 2006 reg 8(2)(c)
Radiator or heater worksLandlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11(1)(c)
Built in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Leave the results blank to tick by hand on the day. A checklist for England, not legal advice: your licence and council may add conditions.
The short answer
- An HMO inspection checks fire safety, alarms, the shared areas, each room and the paperwork against the HMO management regulations (every HMO) and, for a licensed HMO, the licence conditions.
- The council usually gives 24 hours’ notice, but not when it is looking for an offence. A landlord gives the tenant 24 hours’ written notice.
- No law says how often. Walk the shared areas monthly, inspect the whole house every few months, and keep the certificates in date.
What an HMO inspection checks
Whether it is the council’s officer or you with a clipboard, an HMO inspection covers the same seven areas. The checklist above builds all of them for your house; this is the summary.
| Area | What to check | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Fire safety | Escape routes clear and in repair; fire doors closing; fire blankets and alarms working; escape signs visible in houses of 5 or more | Regulation 4 |
| Alarms | A smoke alarm on every storey with living space (bathrooms count); a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a boiler, fire or stove | 2015 alarm regulations; licence conditions |
| Shared areas | Halls, stairs and landings clean, decorated, lit; handrails secure; stair carpet fixed; windows in repair | Regulation 7 |
| Kitchens and bathrooms | Shared appliances and fittings in clean working order; no leaks; ventilation working | Regulations 5 and 7 |
| Bedrooms | Structure, fittings, windows in repair; clean at the start of each let; big enough for who sleeps there | Regulation 8; licence room sizes |
| Outside | Enough bins for every household; yards and gardens tidy; walls and fences safe; no access to unsafe roofs | Regulations 4, 7 and 9 |
| Paperwork | Manager’s details on display; gas safety record (12 months); EICR (5 years); written terms to each occupier | Regulation 3; licence conditions |
The regulations are the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006. They apply to every HMO in England, licensed or not (except some converted blocks of flats), and they set a standard that is “reasonable in all the circumstances”, taking account of the age, character and prospective life of the house. A tired but sound Victorian terrace is not held to the standard of a new build; a blocked fire escape is a breach anywhere.
Fire safety comes first
Most of what goes wrong at an HMO inspection is on the escape route. Under regulation 4 the manager must keep every means of escape free from obstruction and in good order, keep fire-fighting equipment and fire alarms in good working order, and, in a house of five or more occupiers, display signs showing the escape route. It also covers unsafe roofs and balconies, and windows with a sill at or near floor level.
- Bikes, bins and furniture in the hall are the classic failure. Walk the route from the top floor to the front door as a tenant would at night.
- Fire doors should close by themselves, shut fully into the frame and have their seals intact. A wedge under a kitchen door defeats the lot.
- Alarms: in England a smoke alarm on every storey with living accommodation and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker (2015 alarm regulations). A licensed HMO has the same as a licence condition, and there a bathroom or WC counts as living accommodation and a hall or landing counts as a room.
- Fire risk assessment: the shared parts of an HMO fall under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, so keep the assessment current and act on it. Larger houses often need a fire alarm system and emergency lighting; the council’s licence conditions will say.
Bedroom sizes: the licence minimums
Every licence granted for an HMO in England must include minimum room sizes (Housing Act 2004, Schedule 4, paragraph 1A). Enter each room’s floor area in the checklist above and it tells you whether the room is big enough for the people sleeping in it.
| Who sleeps in the room | Minimum floor area |
|---|---|
| One person over 10 | 6.51 m² |
| Two people over 10 | 10.22 m² |
| One child under 10 | 4.64 m² |
| Anyone | No room under 4.64 m² may be slept in |
Measure only the floor where the ceiling is at least 1.5 m high; the low part of an attic room doesn’t count. The licence also says how many people may sleep in each room, and many councils set bigger minimums and kitchen and bathroom ratios of their own. For the licensing side (who needs a licence, fees, conditions), see our HMO licence guide.
When the council inspects, and how much notice you get
No law fixes how often a council inspects an HMO. Visits usually come with a licence application, at some point during the licence, or after a complaint from a tenant or neighbour. Under section 239 of the Housing Act 2004, an authorised officer can enter at any reasonable time to survey or examine the premises, normally after giving at least 24 hours’ notice to the owner and the occupiers. When the council is checking whether you have committed a licensing offence or broken the HMO management regulations, no notice is needed. The officer may bring other people and equipment, take measurements and photographs, and ask to see the gas safety record, which the manager must hand over within 7 days of a written request.
Getting ready for a council visit:
- Build the list. Choose “Before a council or licence inspection” above, with the house’s storeys, rooms and licence, and download it.
- Walk it a week ahead, top floor to front door, marking each check Pass, Fix or N/A, with photos of anything to fix.
- Fix the escape route first: clutter, fire doors, alarms. Then the shared areas and the bins.
- Measure every bedroom and check it against the licence minimum for the people sleeping there.
- Put the paperwork in one place: licence, gas safety record, EICR, fire risk assessment, alarm test log and each occupier’s written terms.
- Tell the tenants when the council is coming and that the officer may look in their rooms.
What follows depends on what they find: often a list of works with a deadline; for serious hazards an improvement notice; and for breaches of the management regulations, which are a criminal offence, prosecution or a civil penalty. The cheapest inspection is the one you did yourself a week earlier.
Routine landlord inspections
The same list works as a landlord inspection checklist for any shared house. Choose “Routine landlord inspection” above and it adds the notice and an occupancy check for every room.
- Notice: at least 24 hours in writing, and visit at a reasonable time of day (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11(6)). In an HMO, occupiers must also let the manager in at reasonable times to carry out the management duties (regulation 10).
- How often: there is no legal frequency. Every three to six months is common; Bricky Bot schedules them six-monthly by default.
- Compare with the move-in record. Damage only counts against a deposit if you can show what the room was like at the start. Our free landlord inventory template builds that record room by room.
- Damp and mould: note it with photos, find the cause and fix it. Our guide to Awaab’s Law explains what is coming for hazards like these.
- Repairs you find go straight on the list with a date. That’s what landlord maintenance software is for.
The monthly check of the shared areas
The duties in regulation 7 (shared areas clean, decorated, lit, safe and clear) and regulation 4 (escape routes and alarms) don’t wait for an inspection; they apply every day. A ten-minute walk of the halls, kitchens, bathrooms and bins once a month catches most problems before a tenant reports them or an officer finds them. Choose “Monthly check of the shared areas” for a short list without the bedrooms or paperwork.
Keep the certificates in step too. The gas safety record is yearly and the electrical report (EICR) five-yearly; our free EICR checker tells you when the current one runs out, and a landlord compliance reporting app keeps every date in one place.
What Bricky Bot does with inspections
Bricky Bot is the HMO management software we built to run our own rooms. Its inspections are the visual walk-round; the checklist above adds the rule-by-rule compliance list.
- Every house is due six months after its last inspection, and the board shows which are overdue, due, planned or fine. You can skip a round with a reason.
- The tenant notice is drafted from a template (seven days by default) and sent to the house’s WhatsApp group only when a person sends it.
- On the day, each shared area and every room gets a 1–5 score for floors, walls, windows and doors (and en-suite fittings), three questions (kept in good condition, clean and tidy, deteriorated since move-in), whether you got in, whether a smoke alarm was seen, a comment and today’s photos beside the move-in photos.
- Anything noticed can become a repair on the spot, and the report is a PDF with your business name, due within 14 days and emailed to the landlord by a person. Nothing goes out by itself.
What it doesn’t do: test anything, assess fire risk, check room sizes or tick off the regulations. Its report says so. That’s what this checklist is for.
Checking a specific house?
For HMO feasibility on a real address (licensing, Article 4, comparables), try Bricksmart’s HMO report. Bricksmart is our sister product and is free to start. Before you buy, the rental yield calculator shows whether the rooms pay.
Questions landlords ask
What do HMO inspections look for?
Fire safety first: clear escape routes, fire doors that close, a working smoke alarm on every storey and carbon monoxide alarms where needed. Then the shared kitchens, bathrooms, halls and stairs (clean, in repair, lit), bins, each bedroom’s condition and size, and the paperwork: gas safety record, EICR, the manager’s details on display and, for a licensed HMO, the licence conditions.
How often should an HMO be inspected?
No law sets a frequency, for councils or for landlords. Councils inspect when you apply for a licence, during it, or after a complaint. Landlords commonly inspect every three to six months, and the duties to keep escape routes clear and shared areas clean apply all the time, which is why many HMO managers walk the shared areas monthly.
Does the council have to give notice before an HMO inspection?
Usually at least 24 hours’ notice to the owner and the occupiers (Housing Act 2004, section 239). But when the council is checking whether a licensing offence or a breach of the HMO management regulations has been committed, it can enter at any reasonable time without notice. The officer may take measurements and photographs.
How much notice does a landlord give for an inspection?
At least 24 hours’ written notice to the occupier, and the visit at a reasonable time of day (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11(6)). In an HMO, occupiers must also let the manager in at reasonable times for the management duties (regulation 10 of the 2006 regulations).
What are the minimum room sizes in an HMO?
For a licensed HMO in England: 6.51 m² for a bedroom slept in by one person over 10, 10.22 m² for two people over 10, and 4.64 m² for one child under 10. No room under 4.64 m² may be used for sleeping, and floor under a ceiling lower than 1.5 m doesn’t count. Councils can set larger sizes in their licence conditions.
Does an HMO have to have a cleaner?
No law says you must employ one. The manager must keep the shared parts clean and in good decorative repair (regulation 7), and tenants must store and put out rubbish as arranged (regulation 10). Many HMO landlords hire a cleaner for the shared areas because it is the simplest way to meet the duty week after week.
What happens if an HMO fails an inspection?
Usually a list of works with a deadline. For serious hazards the council can serve an improvement notice. Breaching the HMO management regulations is a criminal offence, and the council can prosecute or impose a civil penalty instead. Running a licensable HMO without a licence carries its own penalties, set out in our HMO licence guide.
Can I use the checklist for a routine landlord inspection?
Yes. Choose “Routine landlord inspection” and it adds the 24-hour notice and an occupancy check for each room. Choose the monthly check for a quick walk of the shared areas only. Most checks apply to any shared house; the licence ones appear only when you say it is licensed.
Sources
- The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006, regulations 3 to 11
- Housing Act 2004, Schedule 4 (mandatory licence conditions, including paragraph 1A room sizes)
- Housing Act 2004, section 239 (powers of entry)
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11 (repairs and the landlord’s right to view)
- The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, regulation 4 (as amended from 1 October 2022)
- Checked 28 October 2026.
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Bricky Bot is an AI lettings team for HMO landlords: enquiries, WhatsApp, inspections and their reports, repairs and rent, with nothing sent until you approve it.
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