Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, (a) how many and (a) what proportion of houses of multiple occupation were registered under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme in each year since its introduction.

As at 31 March 2016, local authorities provided the Department with estimate numbers of total mandatory licensable Housi (HMOs) at 63,950. The actual number of properties which have been issued a mandatory HMO licence is 40,970. Therefore, the current proportion is 65 per cent.

Measures within the Housing and Planning Act 2016 provide further help to local authorities in identifying mandatory licensable HMOs and tackling rogue landlords avoiding licensing by providing access to information held by the Tenancy Deposit protection schemes.

The figures for the proportion of HMOs licensed for previous years are available since 2011, published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-housing-data