For landlords of shared houses (HMOs)
HMO licences, fire safety and certificates, tracked with reminders.
Datestone tracks your HMO licence and the duties that come with it, alongside the gas, electrics and alarms each house needs.
See what your home needs, in about 2 minutes. No sign-up.
Rooms are recorded on Portfolio: £14.99 a month for up to 20 homes, inc VAT. Rooms never count as extra homes. Your first paid plan starts with a 30-day free trial.
What Datestone does for you
The licence and its expiry
Mandatory, additional or selective, with a reminder before it runs out.
The HMO duties, house by house
The manager's details on display, fire safety, shared areas and bins: each with its source.
Alarms, floor by floor and room by room
Each alarm's dates, and what is missing on a floor, or in a room with a boiler, a fire or a wood or multi-fuel stove.
Source: legislation.gov.uk — Housing Act 2004, Schedule 4, paragraph 1
Gas and electrical certificates
Each one's date, and an email before it runs out.
Additional licensing, by council
Looked up from the postcode, with what we can and can't confirm.
Questions
Does my house need a mandatory HMO licence?
It does if it is rented to 5 or more people who form more than 1 household, some or all of them share a toilet, bathroom or kitchen, and at least 1 of them pays rent. A smaller house may still need a licence, depending on the area.
Source: GOV.UK — House in multiple occupation licence
The HMO licence guideDo rooms count as extra homes?
No. Portfolio records each room and checks its size. Rooms never count as extra homes.
What if my council runs additional licensing?
A council can make all or part of its district subject to additional licensing for the kinds of HMO it describes, after taking reasonable steps to consult the people likely to be affected. Datestone looks the council up from the postcode and says what we can and can't confirm.
Source: legislation.gov.uk — Housing Act 2004, section 56
Licensing, council by councilCan my manager use it too?
Yes. Invite the person who runs things day to day, or an accountant who can see everything and change nothing.
Datestone is a tool for running your rental homes, not legal advice.