What does full HMO management include?
Full management covers the house from the first advert to the monthly statement. In practice that means:
- Letting rooms: advertising, viewings, referencing and Right to Rent checks where required, then tenancy paperwork and move-in.
- Rent: collecting rent from each tenant, following up arrears and sending you a monthly statement of income and costs.
- Compliance: a diary of licence conditions, gas safety checks, electrical reports and alarm checks, with each item arranged before it falls due.
- Repairs: every report logged and handled by our maintenance team, with larger jobs priced for your approval first.
- Inspections: regular visits to the common parts and, with notice to tenants, the rooms, with a short written report to you.
If you only need rooms filled, our tenant find service covers letting without ongoing management, and you can move to full management later without starting the paperwork again.
How has the Renters' Rights Act changed HMO management?
Since 1 May 2026, most private tenancies in England are assured periodic tenancies, and that generally includes a room let in an HMO where the room is the tenant's only or main home. There are no fixed terms and no section 21 notices. A tenant can end the tenancy with two months' notice, and a landlord needs a valid possession ground. New tenancies need a written statement of terms.
For day-to-day management, the main changes are:
- rent can rise only once a year, using a section 13 notice with at least two months' notice, and the tenant can challenge it at the First-tier Tribunal;
- no rent can be taken before the tenancy is signed, and no more than one month's rent between signing and the start date;
- pet requests must be answered within 28 days and cannot be refused unreasonably.
We manage every tenancy on that basis. Our Renters' Rights Act guide explains the possession grounds, including the student ground.
What are a manager's legal duties in an HMO?
The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 apply to every HMO in England, licensed or not, except certain converted blocks of flats. As your managing agent we carry out these duties day to day:
- give every household the manager's name, address and phone number, and display them in the house;
- keep escape routes clear and in good repair, maintain fire equipment and alarms, and display fire escape notices where more than four people live;
- maintain the water supply and drainage, the common parts, fixtures, fittings and appliances, and each tenant's own room;
- provide suitable facilities for waste disposal;
- supply the latest gas safety record to the council within seven days of a request.
Breaching the regulations is an offence, and councils can issue civil penalties of up to £40,000. The licence usually adds its own conditions, such as the maximum number of people in each room. Our HMO management duties guide covers these in more detail.
How do you keep the compliance diary?
Every managed house has a compliance diary with the dates that matter:
- Gas safety: a check of every gas appliance and flue by a Gas Safe registered engineer at least every 12 months, with a copy to existing tenants within 28 days and to new tenants before they move in.
- Electrical safety: an electrical installation condition report (EICR) by a qualified electrician before a tenancy starts and at least every five years, with remedial work done within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so.
- Alarms: a smoke alarm on every storey with living accommodation, a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker, and alarms checked on the first day of each tenancy.
- Licence: conditions tracked, and renewal prepared well before the licence ends.
Fire alarm and emergency lighting tests follow the schedule set by the fire risk assessment. Our safety certificates page explains each certificate.
What is the PRS Database and do I need to register?
The private rented sector database is a new national register of landlords and their rental properties. It is due to open on 15 December 2026, starting in the West Midlands, subject to Parliament approving the regulations, which were still in draft in October 2026. Other regions follow in turn, with the East Midlands expected in early 2027, and every landlord is due to be registered by 14 November 2027.
Once registration opens for a region, landlords are expected to have three months to register. Once registration applies, a landlord who has not registered could face penalties and would not be able to get a possession order on most grounds, so it is worth being ready.
We can help the owners we manage for gather the property details, certificates and licence information, and complete the registration when the service opens for their area. Dates could still move, and we will tell the owners we work with once the position is confirmed.
What's included
- Room advertising, viewings, referencing and tenancy set-up
- Rent collection, arrears follow-up and monthly statements
- Compliance diary for licence conditions, gas, EICR and alarms
- Management Regulations 2006 duties carried out day to day
- Regular inspections of rooms and common parts
- Repairs by our own maintenance team
What does it cost?
Management and tenant-find fees are agreed in writing for each property. We will publish our fee list, redress scheme and client money protection details on our fees page before we accept any letting or management instruction. We confirm in writing which services apply to your house before we start.
Tenants do not pay us letting fees: the Tenant Fees Act 2019 bans most fees to tenants. Repairs and planned works are charged separately, and work above an agreed limit is approved by you before it goes ahead.