In the UK, these are called Houses in Multiple Occupation. They are regulated, licensed and inspected to ensure that they're not dangerous.

https://www.gov.uk/renting-out-a-property/houses-in-multiple...

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rwmj 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

The other responses to this post are very strange. Here in the UK I too lived in HMOs for many years while I was a student at university and later when I started working. It is simply a normal way of living if you're in your twenties. At no point did I live in a house that was a fire risk / 5 to a room / had anyone who had "checked out". It also let me live cheaply and save a lot of money, and I met many life-long friends.

	▲	kccqzy 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		When I was a student I had in fact lived in a room with 5 other people while doing a summer internship. This was in Palo Alto. Basically all people living there were interns. There was even a choice of male-only, female-only or mixed rooms. It wasn't bad. People knowingly chose this kind of arrangement, sacrificing their privacy in exchange for more social mingling, just like youth hostels. In my 20s I would be upset if coming back from work I stayed alone in a private room in a new city; living with people my age was better.

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mnw21cam 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Moreover, we have tax breaks encouraging a home owner to rent out a spare room or two. (Though if the home owner is living in the house, the renter's rights are much less and there isn't the same level of regulation as if the owner is remote.)

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philipwhiuk 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> They are regulated, licensed and inspected to ensure that they're not dangerous.

ish.., to the level of attention councils can afford to do so in an era of tight local government finances, and in the backdrop of limited housing stock making it difficult to refuse planning permission.

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matt-p 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Well, TIL that 3-4 sharing is a HMO, but doesn't require a licence. That makes no sense..

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cjs_ac 3 days ago | parent [-]

The UK is pretty good at maintaining proportionality between regulation and what's being regulated. Given the nature of housing stock in the UK, it's unlikely that four people in an HMO will be overcrowded, but accommodating more people often requires alterations to the house.

	▲	matt-p 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Not sure I totally agree. You can still have say two unrelated people sharing a room (x2). So for example a 1 bed flat with 2 people in the living room and 2 people in the bedroom; or a Studio flat with all 4 people in one room. I see where it comes from though, and I guess including them in the definition but not licensing allows them to magically decide to licence 3-4 HMOs on very short notice.