Housing Statistics 2020 & 2021: Key Trends Summary

Annual statistics up to 31 March 2021 on total new housing supply in Scotland across all sectors, along with information on various elements of local authority housing such as stock, lettings, house sales, evictions, housing lists, and housing for older people and people with disabilities.


Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO)

A house in multiple occupation (HMO) is a property that is shared by three or more people who are members of more than two families. It can also be known as a house share. HMO landlords must have a licence from the local authority. This ensures that the property is managed properly and meets certain safety standards.

The most recent figures as at 31st March 2021 show 14,862 licences in force.

Of the licences in force, 92% are accounted for by just six local authorities – Aberdeen City, Dundee City, City of Edinburgh, Fife, Glasgow City, and Stirling. City of Edinburgh alone holds an estimated 40% of Scotland's HMO licences shown in Chart 20 below.

Chart 18: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Stirling and Fife accounted for 92% of all HMO licences in force in Scotland
Chart 18: A bar chart showing number of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) by local authority area, in which Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Stirling and Fife accounted for 92% of all HMO licences in force in Scotland

There were approximately 9,334 applications received in 2020-21, 1% more than the year before. New applications made up around 13% of these, and the remainder were applications for license renewals.

Further detailed figures are available in the HMO Excel webtables

Contact

Email: Housing_Statistics_Inbox@gov.scot

Back to top