{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/housing-act-2004/section-257",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/housing-act-2004/section-257.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2004/34",
  "legislation_title": "Housing Act 2004",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/housing-act-2004",
  "path": "section/257",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "257",
  "heading": "HMOs: certain converted blocks of flats",
  "text": "(1) For the purposes of this section a “converted block of flats” means a building or part of a building which—\n(a) has been converted into, and\n(b) consists of,\nself-contained flats.\n(2) This section applies to a converted block of flats if—\n(a) building work undertaken in connection with the conversion did not comply with the appropriate building standards and still does not comply with them; and\n(b) less than two-thirds of the self-contained flats are owner-occupied.\n(3) In subsection (2) “appropriate building standards” means—\n(a) in the case of a converted block of flats—\n(i) on which building work was completed before 1st June 1992 or which is dealt with by regulation 20 of the Building Regulations 1991 (S.I. 1991/2768), and\n(ii) which would not have been exempt under those Regulations,\nbuilding standards equivalent to those imposed, in relation to a building or part of a building to which those Regulations applied, by those Regulations as they had effect on 1st June 1992; and\n(b) in the case of any other converted block of flats, the requirements imposed at the time in relation to it by regulations under section 1 of the Building Act 1984 (c. 55).\n(4) For the purposes of subsection (2) a flat is “owner-occupied” if it is occupied—\n(a) by a person who has a lease of the flat which has been granted for a term of more than 21 years,\n(b) by a person who has the freehold estate in the converted block of flats, or\n(c) by a member of the household of a person within paragraph (a) or (b).\n(5) The fact that this section applies to a converted block of flats (with the result that it is a house in multiple occupation under section 254(1)(e)), does not affect the status of any flat in the block as a house in multiple occupation.\n(6) In this section “self-contained flat” has the same meaning as in section 254.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/34/section/257",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:16:48.975968+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}