Room size requirements in student (HMO) accommodation

When looking for an investment property, keep in mind that not every house may be suitable to use as a student HMO property unless you may wish to undertake structural work. 

Below are guidelines to help you determine whether a potential investment property is suitable for student lettings.

Minimum room sizes for accommodation

a) where all or some of the facilities are shared

b) Measurement of the area of the room

To ensure the floor area of a room is of an adequate size it must be measured in the following manner:

• Where a room has a sloping roof or ceiling, and this reduces the height of the room to less than 1.525m (5 feet) this area should not be included when calculating the floor space

• Subject to any exclusion under (i) measurement of the floor area should include any floor space formed by a bay window extension, or any area at floor level, which is occupied by fixed cupboards

• Subject to any exclusion under (i) measurement of the floor area should exclude any floor space formed by a projecting chimney breast

• All measurements of the floor area should be made at floor level, and subject to (i) and (ii), shall extend to the back of all projected skirting

• Subject to any exclusion under (i) where the space immediately behind the door is no wider than the door itself, this will be considered an unusable space, and will be excluded from the measurement of the floor area of the room. If this space is considerably wider than the door itself, e.g. wide enough to place a wardrobe without a reduction of the circulation space, this space can be included

Disclaimer: Please note these are guidelines only and you may wish to check with your local Council. 

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