HMOs: sources and methodology

• Structured, checked automatically

  Fetched, parsed and validated by an adapter. Pages show the last validated snapshot, not a live feed.

• Monitored document

  Changes are detected automatically, but the figures were read by a person and must be re-verified when the document changes.

• Not published

  No suitable public source. Shown as a gap, never as zero.

Not published: 2 of 6 outcome themes have no public source at all, and the rest are only partly published. See the data-gap register.

Not yet scheduled. The adapters are run by hand today. The schedule below is the planned one; until it is automated, the figures on these pages are from the run of 23 September 2026.

• A column is added, removed or renamed.
• A licence type is not one of the four known source labels (including the council's own spelling, “Unlicenced”).
• The categories do not add up: additional + mandatory + Section 257 + unlicensed must equal all rows, and the licensed total must exclude the unlicensed rows.
• The month in the page's “last updated” text differs from the month in the file name.
• The combined or licensed total moves by more than 10% from the previous file.
• More than 2% of rows have a ward that is blank or does not match the ONS ward list. Blank wards are kept as a visible “ward missing in source” row, never dropped.

Reported as warnings without blocking: licence dates that do not parse, a single category moving by more than 10%, a change in licence-reference format (a possible system migration) and a change against the property-reference baseline (3,125 rows, 2,804 distinct references, 49 repeated across 370 rows). No rows are deduplicated.

• 1 September 2023. Citywide additional licensing began: every HMO of 3+ people in 2+ households (and mainly tenanted section 257 buildings) now needs a licence. The register gained a new category.How it is shown: Vertical marker labelled "Licensing coverage expanded". Status language: "Coverage expanded", never "worsening".
• 22 June 2026. HMO licensing moved from Rocktime Verso to Metastreet (old system closed 10am, 22 June 2026). The council says some migrated information "may be labelled differently or need updating".How it is shown: Series annotation "Licensing system changed". Treat month-to-month movement across this date as possibly administrative.

• Authority Monitoring Report 2024 (2023/24)Period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31 (map January 2025) · pp.42-45, paras 3.2.34-3.2.35, Table 8 · checked 23 September 2026Use as: Dated planning-monitoring estimate and planning-process counts.Do not use as: Current stock; a figure to add to LAHS or the register. Superseded by the 2024/25 AMR for the map count.
• Authority Monitoring Report 2024/25 (examination document PCC01)Period: 2024-04-01 to 2025-03-31 (map December 2025) · pp.51-53, paras 4.4.8-4.4.10, Table 13 · checked 23 September 2026Use as: Latest planning-monitoring estimate; latest planning-process counts.Do not use as: A trend against 2023/24 applications (different basis: received vs determined).
• HMO SPD, October 2019, Appendix 5Period: Not stated in the source · pp.26-28, Tables 1 and 2 · checked 23 September 2026Use as: Dated baseline showing the council found a material association between licensed HMOs and complaints.Do not use as: Current evidence, or proof that HMOs caused complaints.
• HMO information report, 29 May 2025Period: 2024-25 · paras 3.3.2-3.3.4, 3.4.5-3.4.10 · checked 23 September 2026Use as: Council-governance and housing-role evidence.Do not use as: Evidence that any individual application should have been approved or refused.

• No address, property reference (UPRN), licence number, planning reference or licence-holder name is published on UK Stat Pack. Property references are used only to count.
• The smallest geography shown is the ward. There is no property-level map.
• To check an address, use the council's own register.
• No tenant details, inferred vulnerability, complaint locations or individual homelessness placements are published.