HMO and property licensing, done properly the first time.

Which licence you need

Licensing sits in Parts 2 and 3 of the Housing Act 2004. Part 2 is HMO licensing. Mandatory licensing applies across England to larger HMOs, which gov.uk describes as a property with at least five tenants forming more than one household who share a toilet, bathroom or kitchen. Councils can add an additional licensing scheme that pulls in smaller HMOs in a designated area.

Part 3 is selective licensing. It covers ordinary single-household lets in areas a council has designated, and Liverpool has run selective licensing across large parts of the city for years. If you let a property in a designated area you need a selective licence unless it already needs an HMO licence, and that includes three and four person HMOs.

Running a licensable property without a licence is an offence and one of the ones a council can deal with by civil penalty rather than prosecution. Tenants can also apply for a rent repayment order. So it’s worth checking, and checking again when a scheme is renewed, because the boundaries and the conditions change.

What we do for £150 per property

We check which scheme applies to the address, confirm the council’s current fee, and complete the application in full. That means the applicant and manager details, the property description, the room sizes against the council’s amenity standards, the fire precautions, the management arrangements and the declarations. If the council wants a measured floor plan, Act Now Energy or any surveyor can produce one for you, priced separately, and we pull together the certificates the application needs, usually the gas safety record, the electrical installation condition report, fire alarm and emergency lighting certificates where fitted, and the EPC.

If something is missing, for example an electrical report that has lapsed, we tell you before the application goes in rather than let the council find it. Act Now Energy Ltd, which is owned by the same person as this consultancy, can carry out EPCs and surveys if you want them to. You’re free to use anyone.

Once submitted, we deal with the council’s queries and any proposed licence conditions. Councils sometimes attach conditions that go beyond what the property needs, and it’s easier to negotiate those at draft stage than to appeal them later.

What councils check on an HMO

The inspection is usually against the council’s HMO standards, which set minimum room sizes, kitchen and bathroom ratios, fire separation and detection, means of escape, heating, ventilation and management. The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 put duties on the manager for repairs, fire safety, waste and common parts, and breach of those is a separate offence.

The things that most often trip landlords up are fire doors that don’t close, missing or wrong-grade alarm systems, rooms let below the minimum size, locks that need a key to get out, and no written record of who’s responsible for what. None of it is difficult. It just has to be done and evidenced.

Keeping it compliant afterwards

Licences run for up to five years and carry conditions with their own dates. Certificates expire on different cycles. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 has added new duties. That’s what the compliance calendar is for. For £5 per property per month we keep a dated schedule of every certificate, licence, inspection and notice, and remind you before each one is due.

Prices

Service	Fixed price
Licence application, per property (selective, additional or mandatory HMO)	£150 plus the council’s fee, paid by you direct
Renters’ Rights Act compliance pack, per landlord	£120
Compliance pack, per property	£25
Complaints procedure and Ombudsman readiness	£95
Compliance calendar, per property per month	£5

Council fees vary by authority and by scheme. We set up an account on the council’s portal in your name and prepare the application in it. You then log in, check it, submit it and pay the council direct by card. The account stays yours, so you can add to it and track the application whenever you like. We confirm the current fee before you start. The full price list is on the fees page.

Landlord Services NW is not a firm of solicitors and doesn’t give legal advice. Licensing rules and council schemes change, and we check the current position for your address before any application goes in.