On 28 December 2017 Alok Sharma, the Housing Minister, announced that the Government would make amendments to the houses in multiple occupation that need licensing. Currently set at HMOs that have 5 or more occupiers and are on three or more qualifying storeys, the new rules will require all HMOs with five or more occupiers,regardless of the number of floors, to get a licence. It is estimated that this will bring another 160,000 properties into mandatory HMO licensing.
Other changes include introducing minimum space requirements for each room of 6.51 m2 for a single person and 10.22 m2 for a couple.