# Housing Act 2004, Section 257: HMOs: certain converted blocks of flats


(1) For the purposes of this section a “converted block of flats” means a building or part of a building which—
(a) has been converted into, and
(b) consists of,
self-contained flats.
(2) This section applies to a converted block of flats if—
(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
(b) less than two-thirds of the self-contained flats are owner-occupied.
(3) In subsection (2) “appropriate building standards” means—
(a) in the case of a converted block of flats—
(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
(ii) which would not have been exempt under those Regulations,
building 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
(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).
(4) For the purposes of subsection (2) a flat is “owner-occupied” if it is occupied—
(a) by a person who has a lease of the flat which has been granted for a term of more than 21 years,
(b) by a person who has the freehold estate in the converted block of flats, or
(c) by a member of the household of a person within paragraph (a) or (b).
(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.
(6) In this section “self-contained flat” has the same meaning as in section 254.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/34/section/257 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/housing-act-2004/section-257
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.