HMO Management in Burnley & Pendle

Room-by-room letting is a compliance job before it is a letting job. We use the same local gas engineer and electrician on every property and pass their invoices to you at cost, which on an HMO is the difference that matters.

Full HMO management across Colne, Nelson, Burnley, Padiham, Brierfield, Barnoldswick, Barrowford and Clitheroe — licensed HMOs, shared houses and room-by-room lets.

HMO management is a different discipline from single lets, and we treat it as one. There is hands-on HMO experience on our team — licence applications, council inspections, the fire safety regime, and the day-to-day reality of keeping five separate tenancies running under one roof. Put that alongside twenty-five years letting property across these towns and you have the two things an HMO actually needs: people who know the regulations, and people who know the streets.

The compliance calendar is where HMOs are won and lost. Gas safety every year, an electrical report every five, alarms and emergency lighting tested on schedule, the licence renewed before it lapses, and repairs turned round quickly because five tenants notice what one might live with. Every one of those is a date, and every one of them is where landlords who manage alone get caught out. Ours are booked with the same local trades we use across every property, not farmed out to whoever happens to have a slot.

What we will always do is tell you straight whether a property works as an HMO. Not every house does, and not every HMO earns more than a family let once the compliance costs and the room-by-room voids are counted properly. You get that answer at the valuation, not after you have signed.

What HMO management actually involves

The compliance calendar

Gas safety every year, an electrical installation report every five, fire alarms and emergency lighting tested on schedule, and the licence renewed before it expires. Missing one of these is how HMO landlords end up prosecuted, and it is entirely avoidable with a system that runs on dates rather than memory.

Fire safety is the whole job

Interlinked alarms to the right grade, fire doors that actually close, escape routes kept clear, and a fire risk assessment that has genuinely been carried out rather than filed. A failure here is a criminal matter, not a complaint.

Room sizes are prescriptive

A room slept in by one person over ten must be at least 6.51 square metres. For two people over ten it is 10.22. Anything under 4.64 cannot be used for sleeping at all, and the council has to be told the room exists. Councils do measure.

Room-by-room letting

Separate agreements, separate referencing, separate deposits and end dates that fall at different times. Replacing one tenant without unsettling the other four is a different skill from re-letting a whole house, and it is where most of the day-to-day work sits.

You are managing a house, not just a tenancy

Communal cleaning, bins, the state of the kitchen, and the disputes between tenants that a single-let landlord never has to think about. This is the part that surprises people who have come from managing terraces.

Repairs at five times the rate

Five tenants report five times as many faults and expect them dealt with faster. We use the same local gas engineer and electrician on every property, so you are not waiting on whoever happens to be free — and their invoice comes to you at cost, with nothing added on top.

The rules in Burnley and Pendle

A licence is required where five or more tenants form two or more households and share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet — regardless of how many storeys the property has.
Neither borough runs additional licensing, so the mandatory scheme is all that applies. A four-bed HMO needs no licence in either.
Pendle’s fee is £590 to apply plus £296 for the licence. It runs five years and cannot be transferred to another property. Burnley publishes its own scale — check the current figure directly.
Burnley’s Article 4 Direction, in force since 14 October 2024, means planning permission is needed to create a small HMO in nine named wards.
Pendle has no Article 4, so converting for three to six unrelated occupants remains permitted development in Colne, Nelson, Barrowford, Brierfield and Barnoldswick.
Minimum sleeping room sizes: 6.51 m² for one person over ten, 10.22 m² for two, and nothing under 4.64 m² used for sleeping at all.
Letting an unlicensed HMO risks an unlimited fine, a criminal record, and being ordered to repay the rent for the period it was unlicensed.
Selective licensing is a separate regime again, and parts of Burnley and Padiham are designated. A property can fall under both.

Why bring one to us

The trades are ours

The same local trades on every property, invoiced at cost. On an HMO that is not a nicety — it is the difference between a certificate landing before the deadline and chasing somebody else’s diary in the week it expires.

We track both licensing regimes

Burnley and Pendle handle this differently, and the Article 4 has pushed them further apart. We work across both boroughs every week, so we are not looking either of them up for the first time on your property.

Twenty-five years in these streets

We know which streets take shared occupancy without trouble and which do not, and where the tenant demand for rooms actually is. That is not something a spreadsheet tells you.

We will tell you if it does not work

Not every house makes a good HMO, and not every HMO makes more money than a family let once the compliance costs and the voids are counted properly. We would rather say so at the valuation than take the instruction.

The fee is agreed before we start

HMO management is more work than a single let and the fee reflects that. We agree it with you in writing up front rather than presenting it afterwards. Call 01282 914155 and we will give you a figure for your property.

Ask us what your property would work as

Frequently asked questions

Do you manage HMOs?

Yes — HMO management is a service we offer right across Burnley and Pendle, covering licensed HMOs, shared houses and room-by-room lets. There is hands-on HMO experience on the team spanning licence applications, council inspections and the fire safety regime, and the compliance work — gas, electrical, alarms and repairs — is handled by the same local trades we use across every property, invoiced to you at cost. On an HMO, that combination is most of the job.