Guidance on the recent change to how Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) are valued for Council Tax in England.

They advised that for single property council tax valuation purposes, HMOs are set to be defined as per the Housing Act 2004, which encompasses any property with access to shared facilities. Where a property is self-contained, these will be excluded from the changes in council tax valuation.
The Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings and Liability for Owners) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 were laid before parliament on 8 November 2023 and came into force effective from 1 December 2023.

From 1 December 2023 all HMOs in England are to be valued as a single property (aggregated) for council tax purposes. This will mean the landlord will be liable for council tax.  Further information and guidance can be found on the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) website. 

The council has now supplied information of all Licensed HMO’s to the VOA, who are reviewing each case individually and re-aggregating back to one property as applicable.  We will be making the changes to our records once the cases are reported to us by the VOA.