What should I check when buying a tenanted HMO?

The licence does not come with the property

An HMO licence is granted to a specific licence holder for a specific property, and it does not transfer when the property changes hands. If you are buying a tenanted HMO, you need your own licence in place, and the safest position is to have your application ready to submit the moment you complete.

A licensable HMO (five or more occupants from two or more households sharing facilities such as a kitchen or bathroom) cannot lawfully be let without a current licence, and that stays true on the day ownership changes, not just before it. A seller who has held the property for years does not pass their licence on to you as part of the sale. Ask them for the current licence and any conditions attached (room sizes, amenity ratios, management standards), because that tells you what the council expects, and check the expiry date, since a fresh application takes time. Council processing times vary, so start the conversation as soon as you have a completion date in view.

Deposits: check they are protected, not just collected

Every tenant’s deposit should be protected with a government-backed scheme (Livdin uses the DPS), and the tenant should have received the prescribed information within 30 days of paying it. Ask for the protection certificate and the prescribed information for every room before you exchange, because if either is missing, the liability for getting it right can become yours as the new landlord.

Deposits stay protected under the existing scheme when a property is sold, but the paperwork trail needs to be clean. Ask your solicitor to confirm the certificates match the current tenants and room numbers, not an earlier set of occupants. If a deposit was never protected, or the 30-day deadline was missed, that is a live liability, tenants can later claim compensation for it, and it is something to price into your offer or ask the seller to put right before completion, not something to sort out afterwards.

Tenancy paperwork to ask for, room by room

Ask for a full set of paperwork for every room, not a summary rent roll. For each tenant, you want:

1. The current tenancy agreement, signed and dated, for that specific room.
2. The rent and start date, plus any increases or side letters agreed since.
3. The referencing outcome and right to rent check on file.
4. Whether the tenant is up to date, on a payment plan, or under notice.

A rent roll tells you what the seller says is coming in. The paperwork tells you whether it is legally sound.

Certificates: gas, electrical and energy

Ask for the current gas safety record, EICR and EPC before you exchange, and check the expiry date on each. You inherit the obligation to renew them, not a fixed set of paperwork.

Certificate	Renewed	What to check before you buy
Gas Safety Record	Every 12 months	Engineer is Gas Safe registered, and the date has not lapsed
EICR	Every 5 years	Rating is satisfactory, with no outstanding C1 or C2 items
EPC	Valid for 10 years	Rating is E or above; HMOs cannot lawfully be let below E without a registered exemption

Inventories and communal condition

Ask for a room-by-room inventory or schedule of condition for every let room, plus one for the communal areas, and walk the shared kitchen, bathrooms and hallways yourself rather than relying on the listing photos.

Communal areas carry more of the wear in an HMO than in a single let, so check the condition of shared furniture, flooring and appliances, and ask whether there is a cleaning rota or contract already in place. That affects what you need to set up on day one, and whether the condition matches what the inventory says it should.

Real rents versus asking rents

Compare the rent actually being paid in each tenancy agreement against current local room rates, not the rents used to market the sale. A seller under pressure sometimes prices the deal on rents that have not moved in years.

Our HMO room rent ranges, maintained by our lettings team and current as of July 2026, are a fast way to sense-check whether the passing rents are already at the top of the market or have room to move. Run the numbers through our yield calculator as well, using the real passing rents rather than the marketed figure, before you commit to a price.

Fire safety: what should already be in place

A compliant tenanted HMO should already have interlinked smoke and heat alarms, fire doors on every let room, emergency lighting where needed, and a written fire risk assessment. Ask for the fire risk assessment and any outstanding remedial works list before you exchange, not after.

A standard survey covers structure and damp; it will not tell you whether the fire precautions meet HMO standard, so do not assume that box has been ticked because a surveyor has been through the property. Our HMO fire safety checklist covers what inspectors and insurers actually look for.

The handover pack a compliant seller should give you

A seller running a compliant HMO should be able to hand you all of the following without a fuss. If they cannot, treat that as a warning sign, not paperwork you chase up after completion.

1. The current HMO licence and any conditions attached to it.
2. Deposit protection certificates and prescribed information for every room.
3. Signed tenancy agreements, referencing outcomes and right to rent records.
4. The current gas safety record, EICR and EPC.
5. Room and communal inventories or schedules of condition.
6. A fire risk assessment, and evidence any remedial works were completed.

Where we fit

We manage HMOs across Huddersfield, Leeds, Harrogate and Barnsley, and we take on properties mid-tenancy more often than we take on empty ones, including ones bought with sitting tenants. If you want a second opinion on a handover pack before you exchange, or you want the property managed from day one of ownership, call 01484 981717 or get in touch and we will talk it through.

Licensing, deposit and certification rules change. This page reflects the position as of mid 2026. We confirm current requirements with the relevant council on every HMO we take on, and you should do the same with your solicitor before you exchange.