HMO help Please

[up4it]

I found the perfect house for me to buy and rent out a few rooms to cover the mortgage etc. but now I have just found out about the whole HMO thing and it seems that I cant do what I want

I read on here ....
"If each person has a separate rental agreement (so that they all pay rent individually to the landlord) it's an HMO. If they've only got a single rental agreement (so that they collectively pay rent to the landlord) it's not an HMO."

If I were to buy a property live in one room and rent out 4 bedrooms individually then I assume that this would be classed as an HMO

If I were to buy a property live in one room and rent out the rest of the bedrooms to one person, would this be classed as an HMO? i.e. this one person could sub-let the rooms to other people/students

What are the rules re having foreign students for short periods i.e. a few weeks at a time?
i.e. I read that a landlord can live there and rent out up to 2 rooms before it is considered as an HMO. What if on top of the 2 people I also had students live in a couple of rooms for short periods? say 2-3 weeks at a time and then get other students

Any advice on how I can get this to work for me would be appreciated as I really love the house

[tonywiltshire]

A HMO has a minimum of three tenants, who form more than one household, who share a bathroom & kitchen. You will need a licence from your Local Authority if the building has three or more storeys or 5 tenants who form more than one household, so if you let to 4 tenants and the building is less than 3 storeys you will not need a licence.

You will be responsible for health & safety in the HMO and there are quite a lot of regulations, which may vary from one LA to another, get some information from your LA. I am intrigued by your comments on how the rent is paid, where did this information come from?

[bushbaby_de]

Whether or not there is a single tenancy agreement or multiple agreements doesn't necessarily matter, its more to do with the nature of the occupation. Your local council will have HMO advice on its website and will probably have a duty officer who you can call and ask to help with your questions. You also need to be careful that you don't change the use from a single dwelling to a HMO in terms of Planning, otherwise you might also need to apply for Change of Use (again there should be advice on this on your council's website)