Every HMO certificate, on one contract, on one renewal calendar.

The certificates themselves are the straightforward part. What causes problems in HMOs is that each one runs on a different clock: gas annually, electrical on a five year cycle or shorter where the report specifies it, EPC on a ten year cycle, fire alarm and emergency lighting on service intervals, and the fire risk assessment reviewed whenever the property, the occupancy or the layout changes. Put four or five HMOs together and the calendar becomes the job.

Every inspection and test is carried out by an independently qualified subcontractor in the relevant discipline. Sunderland Landlord Compliance coordinates the visits, verifies each subcontractor's registration and insurance before instruction, checks the returned paperwork and tracks the renewal dates. SLC is not a gas engineering company, an electrical contractor, a fire risk assessor or a letting agent.

Licensing officers do not usually dispute whether the work was done. They ask to see it, in order, with dates. The evidence pack is a single organised set of the current documents for the property, assembled from the records we already hold:

• Current Gas Safety Record / CP12 with the engineer's registration details.
• Current EICR with its outcome, and where the outcome was unsatisfactory, the remedial completion confirmation and photographic evidence.
• Current EPC and the rating, with the improvement position where relevant.
• Portable appliance testing record for landlord-supplied appliances.
• Fire alarm and emergency lighting test records.
• The current fire risk assessment and the date of its last review.
• Renewal dates for every item, so the officer can see the next cycle is diarised.

The pack is evidence of the work carried out and the records held. It is not a statement that the property is compliant or licensable, and it does not bind the local authority. Licensing decisions and compliance duties remain with the landlord and the council.

Mandatory HMO licensing applies where a property is occupied by five or more occupants forming two or more separate households and sharing a facility such as a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. Below that threshold, additional or selective licensing schemes can still bring a property into a licensing regime, so the local position is worth checking on a property by property basis.

Separately, an Article 4 direction in Sunderland covers the Barnes, Hendon, Millfield, St Michael's and St Peter's wards. In those wards the permitted development right to convert a family dwelling into a small HMO is removed, so planning permission is required for the change of use. That is a planning matter for the council, not a certification matter, and we do not advise on planning applications. It is included here because it determines whether a property can lawfully be operated as an HMO at all, which is a question worth answering before any certificate is arranged.

HMO annual contract from £244.68. Starting price. Your exact price is confirmed before you pay, usually within one hour during office hours.

The contract covers coordination of the full annual cycle, the licensing evidence pack, certificate storage and renewal date tracking. Certificates are stored and renewal dates tracked free, for as long as you are a customer. There is no separate coordination fee: coordination is included in the price quoted. Payment in full secures your booking and gets you the earliest available slot. Portfolios of four or more properties are discounted and quoted per portfolio.

See the full price guide, the EPC C by 2030 requirement and what to do about an unsatisfactory EICR.