Selective Licensing: Landlord Licence Fees by Council
Council-by-council fees, areas and dates for England's selective and additional licensing schemes — only rows we verified on the council's own site, with the date we checked.
In a growing list of English councils, letting an ordinary house legally requires a licence costing several hundred pounds — and letting without one risks a civil penalty of up to £30,000, criminal prosecution, and a Rent Repayment Order returning up to 12 months of rent. Yet there is no single national register of schemes: each council designates its own areas, fees and dates. This page is our compiled, sourced dataset — only rows verified on the council’s own website appear, each with the date we checked.
The three licence types, in one minute
- Mandatory HMO licensing (national): houses in multiple occupation with 5+ occupants forming 2+ households — every council must license these.
- Additional licensing: a council choosing to license smaller HMOs too.
- Selective licensing (Housing Act 2004, Part 3): all private rentals in a designated area — ordinary single-family houses included. This is the one that surprises landlords.
Verified schemes — the table
| Council | Type | Area | Fee | Runs | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hackney | Selective | 17 named wards | £925 / 5yr | 1 May 2026 – 30 Apr 2031 | 29 Aug 2026 |
| Hackney | Additional | Whole borough | £1,400 / 5yr | 1 May 2026 – 30 Apr 2031 | 29 Aug 2026 |
| Croydon | Selective | 14 named wards | £800 (or £544/1yr) | from 25 Sep 2026 | 29 Aug 2026 |
| Croydon | Additional | Whole borough (smaller HMOs) | £1,250 (or £850/1yr) | from 25 Sep 2026 | 29 Aug 2026 |
Hackney: hackney.gov.uk apply-property-licence + designation notices (schemes in force 1 May 2026). Croydon: croydon.gov.uk 2026 scheme pages incl. the 9-Jul-2026 commencement amendment to 25 Sep 2026. Checked 29 Aug 2026.
Why is this table short? Because it contains only what we verified on council websites on the date shown — and it grows with every verification pass rather than by copying other people’s stale lists. Big rental markets (Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds and others) run live schemes whose details we are verifying next; Liverpool’s current scheme, for context, runs to March 2027 with fees on a sliding scale. If your council is missing, send us the link — sourced additions go up fast.
What every scheme has in common
- The fee is per property, usually in two parts (application + grant), typically £500–£1,400 for five years — and it is a deductible expense.
- Discounts are standard — good EPC ratings, accreditation-scheme membership and multi-property applications commonly save £50–£150 each (both Hackney and Croydon do all three).
- Deadlines matter enormously: operating unlicensed after a scheme starts is the offence — Croydon’s schemes start 25 September 2026, which at the time of writing is weeks away.
- Schemes expire and return — designations run up to five years, then councils re-consult; the fee usually rises on the way back.
The enforcement stack (why compliance is cheap by comparison)
Civil penalties up to £30,000 per offence as an alternative to unlimited-fine prosecution; Rent Repayment Orders of up to 12 months’ rent to tenants; and an unlicensed landlord cannot serve a valid s.21 notice. A £925 licence against that menu is not a close call.
Housing Act 2004 Parts 2–3 (licence types) · Housing & Planning Act 2016 (civil penalties up to £30,000) · council pages as cited above.
Quick answers
A council power (Housing Act 2004, Part 3) to require a licence for EVERY private rental in a designated area — ordinary single-family lets included, not just HMOs. Whether it applies depends on the exact ward, not the city: check your council's landlord-licensing pages against your postcode, and re-check when schemes renew. Our table carries only council-website-verified schemes with dates.
Verified current examples: Hackney £925 (selective, 5 years) and £1,400 (additional); Croydon £800 and £1,250 from September 2026 — with EPC, accreditation and multi-property discounts commonly £50–£150. Nationally, £500–£1,400 per five years is the normal envelope. It's tax-deductible.
The serious list: civil penalty up to £30,000 per offence (or prosecution with unlimited fines), a Rent Repayment Order returning up to 12 months' rent to tenants, and no valid section 21 notice while unlicensed. Councils actively data-match against deposit schemes and benefits records — 'they'll never know' is not a strategy.
Apply before the scheme's start date — operating unlicensed from day one is the offence, and applying is itself the protection (an applied-for property is treated differently from an ignored one). Croydon's 25 September 2026 start is the live example: applications now, not after the first warning letter.