NI Houses in Multiple Occupation

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From Monday 1 April 2019, licensing laws for shared flats and houses will change.

On this date the Houses in Multiple Occupation Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 will come in to operation and local councils across NI will take over responsibility for regulating houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) from the NI Housing Executive.

Belfast City Council will manage the delivery of the NI HMO scheme on behalf of all local councils.

Moving forward, all HMOs must be licensed by their local council and all HMO owners must comply with the Houses in Multiple Occupation Act (Northern Ireland) 2016.

You can apply online or in person at your local council office. You must provide all the relevant documentation and the appropriate fee.

Belfast City Council have made improvements to their online application form for House in Multiple Occupation licencing. This includes additional functions such as applications for:

  • varying a managing agent
  • increasing occupancy of an HMO, and
  • temporary exemption notices.

To help you with the new application form, you can watch their step-by-step video tutorials and find detailed guidance within each form on the NIHMO website.

You can now also provide feedback when completing your application, which Belfast City Council will use to improve future developments.

More information about NIHMO, including the online application form, can be found at www.belfastcity.gov.uk/nihmo

Applications will only be accepted from 1 April onwards.