Licence conditions supplementary guidance

As an HMO licence holder, it’s important to read and understand your licence conditions. If you need further support, you can contact the licensing team on 023 9284 1659 or hmo.licensing@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Your licence will detail the minimum statutory bedroom sizes and the number of occupants allowed per room (for sleeping purposes). This is separate to the council’s space and amenity standards for HMOs. You must not knowingly permit occupation of the property in breach of these conditions. You must notify us of any changes to the layout or number of occupants, as this may require a reassessment of the property and a licence update

If you breach any of the occupancy or HMO conditions unknowingly, we will notify you of the breach and allow a specific time period to remedy the breach.

We may ask you for specific information or documents “on demand” as detailed in several licence conditions. “On demand” means you must provide the required documents within 14 days of the demand, unless otherwise stated.

We will only request the personal data when there is a lawful basis and only when necessary. This ensures we respect your privacy and follow our published privacy notice.

If we do request this information, it will always be done in writing, stating specifically what information is required and why. This will be in relation to investigating compliance with licence conditions when a specific issue has been identified. We will only ask for information that is required for a specific purpose or as a matter of routine. If you are asked to provide information, you can ask the council to explain their reasoning.

Council officers can advise what personal information can be redacted from specific documents before you provide it.

The information about waste management that we require you to communicate to your tenants is available on our website. It is your responsibility to communicate this information to tenants.

The Private Sector Housing team produces a regular newsletter with useful information for landlords, often featuring waste management information. Sign up for the landlord newsletter.

For garden waste collection services (if applicable), there are several ways to comply with this condition without using a council service.

The purpose is to ensure that properties producing garden waste have an appropriate procedure for its routine disposal.

We expect you to consider the property’s specific circumstances when identifying the appropriate adjoining properties. Typically, this includes properties that share a boundary or are directly adjacent.

When you’re required to provide contact details to these properties, you can post your details in an envelope marked ‘occupier’ at the start of the licence term. Keep a record of the date you provided the contact details.

If it is foreseeable or likely that you will be out of the country for long periods (for example having a second home abroad or regularly working abroad for weeks), then you should declare this during the application stage. We understand that plans can change. If you find yourself in a situation where you are out of the country for long periods, you should notify your tenants and the council of your alternative arrangements at the time. If an unforeseen emergency leads you to being out of the country for four weeks or more, you should notify your tenants and the council of an alternative fit and proper person who can arrange repairs.

Antisocial behaviour (ASB) can take many forms. Having a written procedure outlining the reasonable steps you would take to address ASB issues can be satisfied in a number of ways. This includes stating in the tenancy agreement that complaints will be investigated thoroughly, that tenants must be responsible for their and their visitor’s behaviour, and that recurring ASB would be escalated to formal action. You are advised to include ASB in the tenancy agreement to handle situations where tenants breach these rules.

Having a written procedure provides transparency and clarity to all parties on what actions would be taken in the event of ASB, responsibilities of each party, and potential consequences.

If you need to address ASB, it is good practice to take notes of the alleged incident and resolution. It is important to keep records of any specific communications, especially if it involves steps to end a tenancy or issue a warning to do so.

Please be aware of any complaint of ASB or nuisance, especially if it could result in a notice to end a tenancy.

Keep documented evidence of how you have followed procedure in dealing with ASB. How you choose to document and keep record of this is up to you. We will likely only request evidence in serious or repeated ASB situations. The police or the council can provide support for you in dealing with serious and repeated ASB.

In addition to the 36 standard licence conditions, we may assess that it is necessary to add property specific conditions to regulate the management, use, occupation and condition or contents. This could mean that you must attend specific training if this has been assessed as necessary, or to add additional amenities such as a wash hand basin or improve ventilation.

These will be included in the licence conditions appended to the 36 standard conditions. They will state what they require from you and when they need you to complete it.

The Issuing officer will explain any extra conditions and provide them to you in writing as part of the draft licence process. This allows you to review the requirements and submit representations if you wish.

• Section 257 licence conditions
• Additional and Mandatory licence conditions