Editorial collage of a temporary-exemption notification, evidence and council decision — The cover follows the temporary-exemption file from notification to decision.

How to File a Temporary Exemption Notice When an HMO Will Stop Needing a Licence

File an HMO temporary exemption notification, council evidence and the grant or refusal without borrowing another authority's fee or deadline.

12 October 2026•3 min read•Article•IziRento Editorial

Rental operations notes from the IziRento team. Not legal advice.

Key takeaways

A temporary exemption notice is for an unlicensed Part 2 HMO in England where particular steps will make the house no longer require a licence. Notify the council on its own form, attach only the evidence that form requests, keep the submission, and file the grant or refusal. The statutory periods are three months from service, a possible second three-month notice, and 28 days to appeal a refusal.

Where an HMO in England is required to be licensed under Part 2 but is not licensed, section 62 of the Housing Act 2004 lets the person having control of or managing it notify the council of particular steps intended to make the house no longer require a licence. File that notification, the evidence this council requests, and the grant or refusal. Use the council's temporary-exemption form; do not treat the notification as the HMO licence application. They are separate routes.

The file is for one address and for England only. Use the HMO licence documents file for the full application pack, and keep any selective-licensing upload as a separate record. A planning-position file is separate too. If the property is outside England, use the rules and forms for that jurisdiction instead.

A pending notification and a pending licence application are also distinct statutory defences. Section 72(4) lists an effective section 62 notification and an effective section 63 licence application separately. Keep them as separate records even if a council page describes their effect in similar terms.

Disclaimer: IziRento is operations software, not legal advice. Local tenancy rules vary; check a qualified adviser for binding decisions.

First decide whether this is the right file

The house must currently be an HMO that Part 2 requires to be licensed, and a licence must not already be in force. Section 61 says such an HMO must be licensed unless a section 62 notice or a Part 4 management order is in force. Section 62 itself applies where the house is not licensed. If a licence is already in force, this notification is not a route for revoking it.

The proposed steps must be directed at ending the licensing requirement, not merely changing the management arrangement. The Act does not give a closed national list of qualifying steps. That is why the address file starts with the council's current form and its requested evidence, rather than a checklist copied from another authority.

The death of a licence holder is a different route. Section 68 provides its own initial three-month period from death and permits the authority to serve a further three-month notice for personal representatives who request it. Its five-year figure is the maximum licence period, not the duration of this steps notification.

Route check separating a temporary exemption from the HMO licence file — The notification route stops when the house will remain licensable.

Stop if the house will still need a licence

If the proposed steps leave the property within the licensing requirement, do not continue with the temporary-exemption file. Use the HMO licence folder instead. The same stop applies when an exemption period ends and the house remains licensable. IziRento stores the record; it does not decide whether the council should grant a notice.

Build the notification and decision file

Continue only if the proposed steps are expected to end the licensing requirement. Describe those steps on this council's form, supply only the evidence it requests, retain the exact submission, and file the response. A form may ask for one property per application, the applicant's role, a declaration, or evidence tied to the stated steps. Those fields belong to that form and should not become a national evidence list.

For example, the West Suffolk form asks for a detailed explanation of the steps and says evidence may be required. The Wandsworth page asks for owner details, the reason, application details and uploaded evidence. Use the form for the property's council; do not combine those examples into a new form.

Keep the sent copy and any receipt or portal confirmation with the address. The declaration matters: section 238 makes knowingly or recklessly supplying materially false or misleading information to the authority an offence. The file should therefore preserve what was actually submitted, not a later reconstruction.

Notification workflow from the council form to the grant or refusal — The address file preserves exactly what was submitted.

What the address file should contain

Confirm the statutory starting point
Record that the house is required to be licensed under Part 2, is not already licensed, and that the stated steps are intended to remove that requirement. If those facts do not fit, stop and use the correct licence or other council process.
Complete this council's notification
Use the current form for the property's council. Describe the particular steps clearly enough for the authority to understand how they are expected to end the licensing requirement. Do not import another council's eligibility examples or person threshold.
Attach only the requested evidence
Match each attachment to a field or request on that form. Where the form requires a separate application for every property, keep this address on its own submission. Do not rebuild the gas, electrical, floor-plan or fit-and-proper documents from the licence pack.
Keep an exact copy of the submission
Save the completed form, attachments, declaration and the send receipt or portal confirmation. Keep the copy exactly as submitted so that later changes to a working draft cannot be mistaken for the notification the council received.
File the grant or the refusal
A grant is the temporary exemption notice. Under section 62 it runs for three months from service; a second notice, requiring a further notification and exceptional circumstances, runs for three months after the first ends, and there is no further notice. A refusal notice must give the decision, reasons, decision date, appeal right and appeal period. The statutory appeal period is 28 days from the decision date stated in that notice.
Recheck licensing before the period ends
If the house has ceased to require a licence, keep the notice with the completed steps. If it still requires one, move to the HMO licence folder without delay. The exemption file does not become a possession claim or a substitute licence application.

File the grant and refusal periods exactly

The first statutory notice runs for three months beginning with the date it is served. A second notice begins after the first ceases and lasts another three months; it is not measured from the date the second letter happens to be posted. Section 62(4) and (5) also require exceptional circumstances for the second notice and rule out a further one.

If the authority refuses, keep the refusal itself rather than a note saying only 'not granted'. The Act requires the decision, reasons, decision date, appeal right and time for appeal. The 28 days begin with the date specified in the refusal as the date of decision. Use the contact and appeal route stated for the actual refusal, because council pages may print different details.

Possession is not part of this file. Current GOV.UK guidance says section 21 cannot be used after 1 May 2026. A council page that still mentions section 21 should not turn this notification into a possession procedure.

Keep figures tied to the council that published them

The table is a source map, not a directory for choosing a council. Use only the row for the property's authority. Its purpose is to prevent a fee, threshold or service target printed by one page from being repeated as an England-wide rule.

Period cards separating the two notice periods from the refusal appeal — Statutory periods stay separate from each council's own figures.

Periods and fee wording on the opened pages

Source	What that source prints	How to use it in the file
Housing Act 2004, section 62	Three months from service; a second three months after the first ends; 28 days from the decision date on a refusal notice.	These are the statutory periods. The Act does not call the two notice periods a single six-month notice and does not state a fee.
Oxford City Council	Three months; a second three months; the page calls the total six months; 28 days to appeal; no fee.	Keep the six-month label and no-fee statement on Oxford's row only. Use Oxford's evidence examples only for an Oxford form.
West Suffolk Council	Three months; no more than two notices; 28-day appeal; licensing from five people on its page; no application fee.	These are West Suffolk page statements. Do not turn its five-person line or no-fee wording into a national rule.
Wandsworth Council	Fewer than five occupiers appears as a mandatory-licensing example; three months and one further three months. The opened page does not state a fee or an appeal window.	Do not supply a fee or appeal window from another council. The occupancy example stays with Wandsworth.
Newham exemptions page	A maximum initial three months and a possible further three months. The opened page does not state a fee.	Use the initial maximum only for this Newham page. It does not remove the statutory second-notice provision.
Newham TEN guide	Reply within 28 days of submission; requested documents within seven days; 28-day appeal citing section 86.	These are targets and wording in Newham's guide only. Section 86 is the Part 3 route, not the section 62 appeal provision for this file.

Close the file at the decision

The file is complete when it holds the notification of the particular steps, the evidence this council requested, the sent copy, and either the temporary exemption notice or the refusal notice. If the property will still require a licence, the next record is the HMO licence folder. Keep a council's fee and timing wording attached to the page that printed it; keep the statutory three months, second three months and 28-day refusal appeal attached to section 62. IziRento can store this address file. It does not notify the council, grant the notice or decide an appeal.

File an HMO temporary exemption notification, council evidence and the grant or refusal without borrowing another authority's fee or deadline.

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