HMO Licensing, Complaints and Enforcement Data (2018–2024)
Case reference FOI2025/01254
Received 26 November 2025
Published 8 December 2025
Request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 relating to Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in your local authority area.
Please provide the following data, if held, for each calendar year from 2018 to 2024 inclusive (or for as many of those years as you hold data).
If a year-by-year breakdown cannot be produced within the statutory time or cost limits, please instead provide the total figure for the entire period (2018–2024).
1) The number of HMO licence applications received.
2) The number of HMO licence applications refused.
3) The number of HMO licences revoked or suspended.
4) The number of complaints received relating to HMOs.
5) The number of inspections of HMOs carried out.
6) The number of enforcement or improvement notices issued, or prosecutions brought, relating to HMOs.
7) (If recorded) The number of unlicensed or illegal HMOs identified. If possible, please provide the data in spreadsheet format (e.g. CSV or Excel).
Response
1) The number of HMO licence applications received.
2018 – 25
2019 – 15
2020 - 16
2021 – 12
2022 – 16
2023 – 17
2024 - 15
2) The number of HMO licence applications refused.
There were no HMO licence applications refused in the period 2018 – 2024.
3) The number of HMO licences revoked or suspended.
I can’t provide an annual breakdown but there were 14 licences revoked between 2018 and 2024. These were all in agreement with owners and were due to change of ownership or the property no longer needing be licensed.
4) The number of complaints received relating to HMOs. These are complaints related to licensed and unlicensed HMO’s.
2018 – 4
2019 – 3
2020 – 2
2021 – 0
2023 – 1
2024 - 0
5) The number of inspections of HMOs carried out.
I can only provide information on inspections of licensed HMO’s.
2018 – 68
2019 – 58
2020 – 34
2021 – 2
2022 – 2
2023 – 12
2024 - 22
6) The number of enforcement or improvement notices issued, or prosecutions brought, relating to HMOs.
2018 – 1 prosecution
2020 – 1 Civil Penalty Notice
2024 – 1 Civil Penalty Notice
7) (If recorded) The number of unlicensed or illegal HMOs identified.
We do not record this but we would usually just have one or two unlicensed HMO’s brought to our attention each year.
Documents
This is Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.