HMO management software built around the room
An HMO earns money one room at a time and loses it one room at a time. Bedspace Manager tracks every room: who's in it, what it pays, what it owes, what it lost while it stood empty, and how each house and area is doing.
- Rent and arrears per room
- Lost rent per room, in £
- Every house, by area
Since 1 May 2026, every room runs on its own clock
In England, every room let in an HMO is now its own assured periodic tenancy. Fixed terms are gone. A tenant can leave with two months' notice, and you can raise the rent once a year with a Section 13 notice (Form 4A), giving at least two months' notice.
Rooms rarely start on the same day, so a six-room house now has six review dates and six notice clocks. A spreadsheet with one row per house can't show that.
- Every room's tenancy, move-in date and current rent in one list
- Change Rent applies from the next billing cycle and keeps the old figure in the history
- Upcoming move-outs show on the calendar and the dashboard
England only. Bedspace Manager doesn't send notices or legal reminders, so check the GOV.UK overview for landlords.
Ashby Grove · No. 14
6-room HMO · Hyde Park, Leeds · illustrative
| Room | Rent pcm | Let since | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Room 1 | £575 | Sep | Rent review due |
| Room 2 | £575 | Jan | Settled |
| Room 3 | £525 | Feb | Notice given, leaving Jan |
| Room 4 | £525 | May | Settled |
| Room 5 | £600 | Jul | £45 unpaid |
| Room 6 | £625 | Oct | Settled |
Six rooms, six start dates, six earliest rent review dates.
See every room's tenant, rent and balance on one screen
Most landlord software starts with the property and treats rooms as an afterthought. In Bedspace Manager each room is a unit in its own right: a double with an en-suite and a box room in the same house can have different rents, deposits, tenants and arrears, and you see all of it without opening the house.
Occupied, vacant or booked
Every room shows its status, including rooms that are empty now but have someone moving in next week.
What each room owes
Unsettled rent sits against the room and the tenant, so £45 short in Room 4 doesn't vanish into a house total.
Each tenancy, start to finish
Move-in date, billing day, rent, deposit and the full record of every tenancy the room has had.
What an empty room really costs you
HMO voids happen one room at a time: a week between tenants here, a month over the summer there. Each one is too small to notice, and together they're often the biggest leak in the portfolio.
Bedspace Manager's Lost Rental Revenue widget puts a pound figure on it. Every empty room-day is priced from that room's own recent rents, falling back to its listed rent if it has no history, then added up for the house, the area and the whole portfolio, month by month.
Room Void Cost
Figures in GBP · updates live
Rent lost to empty rooms
£2,382/ year
£397 per room, at £19 a day
Re-let each room one week faster
+£794 a year
A quick estimate with one average rent. Bedspace Manager works out the real figure for every room, every day it stands empty, using that room's own rent history.
Track your real void costKnow which houses earn and which ones drag
Each house has its own income, expenses, net profit, deposits and occupancy, including a rent-to-rent lease if you have one. Business Atlas then groups your houses by city and area (Leeds, Hyde Park, Headingley), so a weak street shows up before it becomes a weak year.
House profit and loss
Income, expenses and net profit for this month and all time, with the bills and repairs that belong to that house.
Portfolio by area
City → area → street → house → room. Occupancy and unpaid rent at every level, from the location you set when adding the property.
Monthly reports to your inbox
An Insights PDF and a full Transactions Excel file every month, ready for you or your accountant. On Elite and Teams plans.
Does your HMO need a mandatory licence?
In England, a house needs a mandatory HMO licence when 5 or more people from 2 or more separate households live there and share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. Since October 2018 the number of storeys doesn't matter.
Councils can go further. Additional licensing can cover smaller HMOs, and selective licensing can cover every private let in an area, so always check your council's website too.
Minimum bedroom sizes in a licensed HMO
Set as national licence conditions in England since 1 October 2018.
- 6.51 m²
- One person over 10
- 10.22 m²
- Two people over 10
- 4.64 m²
- One child under 10
A room under 4.64 m² can't be used for sleeping. Floor area with a ceiling under 1.5 m doesn't count. Councils may set higher standards.
HMO Licence Checker
Mandatory licensing test · England
This property is likely to need a mandatory HMO licence
5 people from 5 households sharing facilities meets the mandatory licensing test in England (5 or more people, 2 or more households). It applies whatever the number of storeys. Apply to your council before you let it this way. Letting a licensable HMO without a licence is a criminal offence.
A quick guide to the national test, not legal advice. Purpose-built flats in a block of three or more self-contained flats are outside mandatory licensing. Your council has the final say, and it may also run additional or selective schemes. GOV.UK: HMO licences
The monthly rent run, done for you
By the 20th you should know exactly who has paid, who hasn't and what's still to come in. The dashboard shows it without a single formula.
Monthly rent invoices for every room
Each room's tenancy generates its own invoice every month. Bill on the 1st (calendar) or on the tenant's move-in day (custom). You never build a rent run by hand.
Proration for mid-month moves
A tenant who moves in on the 18th pays for the days they're there. The first invoice is prorated automatically, so you don't have to work it out on a calculator.
Payments, deposits and rent changes on record
Every payment records its method. Deposits are tracked per room. A rent change takes effect from the next billing cycle and the old figure stays in the history. Nothing can be deleted, only voided.
Repairs logged against the room
Boiler, fire door, mouldy bathroom: tickets are raised against the house and room, assigned to someone, and tracked to completion. Tenants can report them by WhatsApp too. Included on Elite and Teams plans.
Where Bedspace Manager fits, and where it doesn't
Most UK landlord apps are built around compliance paperwork. We're built around the room as a source of income. Here's the trade-off, including the parts we don't do.
| What you need | Spreadsheet | Typical landlord app | Bedspace Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent and arrears tracked per room | |||
| Lost rent from empty rooms, in £ | |||
| Portfolio occupancy by city and area | |||
| Automatic proration for mid-month moves | |||
| Rent history per room that can't be overwritten | |||
| Licence, gas and EICR expiry remindersNot yet. Keep a compliance calendar alongside. | |||
| Making Tax Digital submissionExport the monthly reports to your accountant or MTD tool. |
"Typical landlord app" is a general picture of UK landlord software. Features vary by product and plan.
HMO management software: common questions
- Is Bedspace Manager built for HMOs?
- It's built for shared accommodation where each room or bed is let on its own, which is exactly how an HMO works. Every room is a unit with its own rent, deposit, tenancy and history, and every house rolls up into your portfolio by city and area.
- Does it track HMO licence, gas safety and EICR expiry dates?
- Not yet. There are no certificate expiry reminders in Bedspace Manager today. Most landlords who use it keep their compliance dates in a separate calendar or compliance tool, and use Bedspace Manager for rooms, rent, voids and repairs.
- Can each room in the house have its own rent?
- Yes. Each room has its own market rent and deposit, and each tenancy can be set at its own rent. When you change a room's rent, the new amount applies from the next billing cycle and the old one stays in the history.
- How does it help with the Renters' Rights Act?
- Since 1 May 2026, every room let in an English HMO is its own assured periodic tenancy, with its own rent review date and notice period. Bedspace Manager keeps each room's move-in date, current rent and rent changes in one place, so you can see where every room stands. It doesn't send Section 13 notices or remind you when a review is due, and it isn't legal advice.
- Does it bill in pounds?
- Yes. When you create your business and choose the United Kingdom, your currency and time zone are set to GBP and UK time. Prices on our pricing page are listed in USD as a reference, and a UK account is billed in pounds at the equivalent rate.
- Can I charge weekly rent?
- No. Bedspace Manager bills monthly only, which matches how most HMO rooms are let in the UK (per calendar month). If your rooms are let weekly, it isn't the right fit.
- Does it submit Making Tax Digital returns?
- No. It records every income and expense, and on Elite and Teams plans it emails you a monthly Insights PDF and a full Transactions Excel file. Most landlords pass those to their accountant or import them into their MTD software.
- Does it work for HMOs in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
- The software works anywhere in the UK. The licensing checker and the Renters' Rights Act notes on this page cover England only, because each nation has its own HMO and tenancy law.
Guides for HMO landlords
What Your Empty Beds Actually Cost You
How to put a currency figure on vacancy in shared accommodation — why average lease rent beats asking price, and what the monthly number should change about your decisions.
6 min readRead guideYour Occupancy Rate Is Lying to You
Why raw occupancy percentage hides revenue leakage in shared-accommodation businesses, and which numbers to track alongside it — receivables, turnover gaps, and closing leases.
6 min readRead guideThe Real Cost of Tracking Leases in a Spreadsheet
What breaks first when shared-accommodation operators outgrow a spreadsheet for lease tracking — proration errors, missed rent changes, and move-out chaos.
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Put every room of every house on one screen
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