HMO licences: mandatory, additional and selective licensing explained

The licence is the one HMO document the council issues on its own clock — and the one that quietly invalidates everything else when it lapses. Operating a licensable HMO without one is a criminal offence even if every certificate in the building is current. This is how the three licensing regimes work, what the council actually checks, and where landlords get caught.

Do you need a licence?

Start with the HMO test: a property let to three or more tenants forming two or more households who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. From there, three regimes can apply — and they stack.

Mandatory licensing applies nationally to every large HMO: five or more occupants, two or more households. Since 1 October 2018 there is no storey requirement — a two-bed flat shared by five people is licensable.

Additional licensing is a council scheme extending the licence requirement to smaller HMOs — typically the three- and four-sharer houses that fall below the mandatory threshold. Whether your three-sharer needs a licence depends entirely on whether the borough has a live scheme.

Selective licensing goes further: in a designated area, every privately rented property needs a licence — HMO or not. Schemes run for up to five years, then lapse or get re-designated.

The practical consequence: a portfolio spread across boroughs can need a licence on one three-bed and none on its twin a mile away. "I didn't know the scheme had started" is not a defence — councils publish designations, and the offence is strict.

What the council checks

A licence application is a property-and-person inspection on paper:

• Fit and proper person — convictions, previous housing enforcement, discrimination findings. The licence holder and any managing agent are both tested.
• Suitability of the property — amenity standards (kitchens, bathrooms and WCs per occupant) and the national minimum room sizes written into every licence since 2018: 6.51 m² for one adult, 10.22 m² for two, 4.64 m² for a child under ten. Rooms below 4.64 m² cannot be slept in at all.
• The compliance stack — councils routinely require the current gas safety record, a satisfactory EICR and evidence of fire precautions with the application, and licence conditions oblige you to keep them current for the life of the licence.

Fees vary by council — commonly £500–£1,500 per property, often split into application and grant stages. Budget per property, per five years, per borough.

The renewal trap

A licence runs for up to five years — many councils issue shorter ones — and there is no grace period. The rule that saves you: a complete renewal application submitted before expiry lets you keep operating lawfully while the council processes it (and council processing routinely takes months). Submit the day after expiry and you're running an unlicensed HMO from day one.

This is where established landlords get caught, not newcomers. The licence was obtained properly five years ago, the reminder letter went to an old address, and the date passed. Councils send a final reminder at most — some send none.

What getting it wrong costs

Operating a licensable HMO without a licence, or breaching licence conditions, exposes you to the full Housing Act 2004 enforcement kit:

• Prosecution and an unlimited fine, or — the route councils now prefer — a civil penalty of up to £30,000 per offence, no court required;
• Rent repayment orders — tenants or the council reclaim up to 12 months' rent, per tenant;
• No Section 21 — you cannot serve a valid no-fault notice while the property is unlicensed;
• Banning orders and the rogue landlord database for serious or repeat offences.

Each unlicensed property is a separate offence. Five missed renewals across a portfolio is five £30,000 exposures plus five rent repayment claims — before anyone has alleged a single defect in the buildings.

Keeping licences on the same clock as everything else

A licence is just another dated obligation — issued per property, expiring on a council-set date, with conditions that reference your gas, electrical and fire paperwork. The failure mode is administrative, not technical: the dates live in council letters and email threads instead of one register.

Proprietas treats the licence like every other regime: each property carries its licence record with the expiry tracked on the 90/60/30/7-day reminder workflow, next to the certificates the conditions depend on. Drop the council's licence letter on the free scanner and watch the dates and reference pull out — that's the same engine that files it. The wider duty stack is covered in the HMO compliance checklist, and the full statutory map in the UK property compliance guide.

This is a plain-English overview, not legal advice — licensing schemes, fees and conditions are set per local authority and change; always check the current designation with your council.