Housing Statistics 2022 & 2023: Key Trends Summary

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 of 31st March 2023 show 15,434 licences in force. There has been a 4% increase in licences since March 2022, with the increase driven by a rise in the City of Edinburgh (12% increase, with 692 additional licences) and Fife (20% increase, with 151 additional licences). It is difficult to determine when the increase occurred in the City of Edinburgh as the data were estimated in 2020 and 2021. Therefore caution should be taken when interpreting this increase.

Of the licences in force, 93% 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 43% of Scotland’s HMO licences shown in Chart 14 below.

Chart 14: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Stirling, and Fife accounted for 93% of all Houses in Multiple Occupation licences in force in Scotland.

There were approximately 9,407 new and renewal applications received in 2022-23, 5% more than the year before. New applications made up around 11% of these, and the remainder were applications for license renewals.

Further detailed figures are available in the HMO Excel web tables