Do I Need an HMO Licence in London? 2026 Guide

An HMO — a House in Multiple Occupation — is any property let to three or more people who form more than one household and who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. A household is a single person, a couple, or a family unit. Three friends sharing a flat are three households. A couple plus a lodger is two households. Get the household arithmetic right and the rest of HMO law follows from it. Get it wrong and you are letting an unlicensed HMO, which in London in 2026 carries some of the most enthusiastically enforced housing penalties in England.

Licensing matters because it is the mechanism the state uses to make sure HMOs are safe to live in. A licensed HMO has a fire-detection system to the right BS 5839-6 grade, a current EICR, a current gas safety certificate, room sizes above the statutory floor, and a named licence holder accountable for compliance. An unlicensed HMO has none of those guarantees, which is why the Housing Act 2004 makes operating one a criminal offence under section 72.

There are three licensing schemes in play across London — mandatory, additional and selective. They overlap in confusing ways. This page walks through each, gives you a borough-by-borough picture for 2026, and lays out a decision tree you can run through in two minutes to find out whether your property needs a licence.

What an HMO Actually Is

The statutory definition lives in sections 254–259 of the Housing Act 2004. A property is an HMO if it meets the "standard test" — it is occupied by persons who do not form a single household, the occupation is the occupants' only or main residence, rent is paid (or other consideration), at least one basic amenity (kitchen, toilet, or bathroom) is shared, and the property is not on the list of exempt buildings in Schedule 14 of the Act.

The Schedule 14 exemptions are narrow but important: properties wholly owned and occupied by a co-operative of resident-owners, properties occupied by the freeholder and members of the freeholder's household plus no more than two lodgers, certain student halls of residence managed by educational establishments under a code of practice, properties regulated by other statutes (care homes, prisons), and purpose-built blocks of flats containing three or more self-contained flats are excluded from the standard test even though individual flats inside them may still be HMOs in their own right.

The single most common misunderstanding is that a couple counts as one household. They do. So a six-person letting where there are two couples and two singles is four households — and it is an HMO. A six-person letting where there is one couple and four singles is five households — also an HMO. A six-person letting of one family with four children is one household — and it is not an HMO at all, no matter how many people live there.

Mandatory Licensing — The 5+ Rule

The national mandatory scheme is set by the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Description) (England) Order 2018, which extended the original 2006 scheme. From 1 October 2018 a mandatory licence is required if all four of the following are true:

• The property is occupied by five or more persons
• The occupants form two or more separate households
• The occupants share basic amenities — kitchen, bathroom or toilet
• The property is the occupants' only or main residence

Storey count and floor area no longer matter for mandatory licensing — the pre-2018 "three storeys" rule was removed. A two-storey terrace let to five unrelated people sharing a kitchen needs a mandatory licence. A purpose-built block containing three or more self-contained flats is exempt from the standard test under Schedule 14, but a converted house split into non-self-contained bedsits is not exempt and is almost certainly a licensable HMO at the five-person threshold.

Mandatory licensing applies everywhere in England. The council has no discretion to switch it off. The licence runs for up to five years, is held by a named licence holder, and attaches conditions on fire safety (typically BS 5839-6 Grade A or D1 LD2 minimum), electrical safety (a five-yearly EICR), gas safety (annual CP12), room sizes (the statutory minimum of 6.51 m² for a single sleeping room and 10.22 m² for a double, with under-10s counting as half a person), and a written management plan.

Additional Licensing Schemes (London 2026)

Section 56 of the Housing Act 2004 lets a local authority designate an additional licensing scheme to catch HMOs below the mandatory threshold — typically three or four unrelated occupants. The designation is discretionary, has to follow a public consultation, lasts up to five years, and can be borough-wide or limited to certain wards. The breadth of London adoption in 2026 makes additional licensing the rule rather than the exception inside Zone 1–4.

Boroughs currently running an additional scheme in 2026:

• Newham — Borough-wide additional licensing for any HMO of three or more unrelated occupants, alongside the longest-running selective scheme in London. Renewed 2023, runs to 2028.
• Brent — Borough-wide additional licensing covers 3+ person HMOs, in force since 2020 and renewed 2025.
• Ealing — Borough-wide for 3+ person HMOs, renewed 2024.
• Haringey — Borough-wide additional scheme covering 3+ unrelated occupants, in force since 2019 and renewed 2024.
• Hackney — Borough-wide for HMOs of three or more occupants, renewed 2023.
• Waltham Forest — Borough-wide additional licensing for 3+ person HMOs alongside the borough's mature selective scheme.
• Tower Hamlets — Borough-wide additional licensing for 3+ unrelated person HMOs from April 2024, running for five years to April 2029.
• Hillingdon — Borough-wide additional scheme designated 2025 and going live on 24 August 2026. Any 3+ person HMO in Hillingdon must hold or have applied for a licence by that date.
• Croydon — Borough-wide additional licensing for 3+ person HMOs, renewed 2024 to 2029.
• Camden — Borough-wide additional licensing covering 3+ unrelated occupants in any building, including individual flats inside larger blocks.
• Islington — Borough-wide additional scheme for 3+ person HMOs since 2020, renewed 2025.
• Southwark — Borough-wide additional scheme for 3+ unrelated occupants, renewed 2023.
• Greenwich — Borough-wide for 3+ person HMOs, in force since 2022.
• Enfield — Borough-wide additional licensing for 3+ unrelated occupants alongside ward-level selective designations.
• Hammersmith & Fulham — Borough-wide for 3+ person HMOs, renewed 2024.
• Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea — Borough-wide for 3+ person HMOs, designated 2021 and renewed 2026.
• Westminster — Borough-wide for 3+ person HMOs, in force since 2021.
• Redbridge — Borough-wide additional licensing for 3+ person HMOs from 2023.
• Barnet — Borough-wide additional licensing for 3+ person HMOs, designated 2023.
• Barking & Dagenham — Borough-wide for 3+ unrelated occupants alongside an aggressive selective scheme.
• Harrow — Public consultation on a borough-wide additional scheme closed in late 2025; designation expected late 2026.

Thresholds vary. Most schemes catch HMOs of three or more occupants forming two or more households; a handful (Hackney, Camden) describe the threshold as "any HMO not caught by the mandatory scheme". Always read the borough's designation notice before assuming the national three-or-more rule applies — Brent and Ealing in particular have specific carve-outs for converted blocks of self-contained flats that change the answer.

Our HMO Licensing Assistance page lists the current designation status, fees and required certificates for every London borough — we update it quarterly.

Selective Licensing — All Private Rentals

Selective licensing under section 80 of the Housing Act 2004 is a different beast. It catches every privately rented property in a designated area regardless of HMO status — single-family lets, individual flats, lodgings — provided the area meets one of the statutory criteria (low housing demand, significant antisocial behaviour, poor property conditions, high deprivation, high migration, high crime). A designation covering more than 20% of the borough's privately rented stock or more than 20% of the borough's geographical area requires Secretary of State confirmation.

Boroughs operating a selective licensing scheme in 2026:

• Newham — Borough-wide selective licensing since 2013, the original and longest-running scheme. Renewed 2023 to 2028.
• Waltham Forest — Borough-wide selective licensing alongside additional licensing. Current designation runs to 2025 with renewal consultation in progress.
• Tower Hamlets — Selective licensing in designated wards in force to September 2026; the borough is consulting on a replacement scheme.
• Croydon — Borough-wide selective licensing from 2020, renewed 2025 to 2030.
• Brent — Selective licensing in designated wards alongside borough-wide additional licensing.
• Enfield — Selective licensing in designated wards including Edmonton, Lower Edmonton and Upper Edmonton.
• Lambeth — Selective licensing in designated wards (Brixton, Streatham, Stockwell) from 2024.

If a property sits in a selective licensing area and meets an HMO threshold, the HMO licence (mandatory or additional) takes precedence and you do not need a selective licence on top — but the selective scheme catches single-family lets that no HMO scheme would touch. A flat in Edmonton let to a single family of four needs a selective licence; the same flat in Mayfair does not.

The Decision Tree — Do I Need One?

Run through these questions in order. Stop at the first "yes".

1. Are there five or more occupants forming two or more households, sharing a kitchen, bathroom or toilet? If yes → you need a mandatory HMO licence, everywhere in England, full stop.
2. Are there three or four occupants forming two or more households, in a borough that runs an additional licensing scheme? If yes → you need an additional HMO licence from that borough.
3. Is the property a single-family let in a designated selective licensing area? If yes → you need a selective licence from that borough.
4. None of the above? No licence required — but you still need to comply with the rest of the landlord-compliance regime (EICR, gas safety, EPC, smoke and CO alarms). Our landlord compliance hub for London covers the lot.

Two warnings on the decision tree. First, an exempt building under Schedule 14 (purpose-built block of three or more flats, freeholder-occupied with up to two lodgers, recognised student hall) drops out of HMO classification before you reach question 1. Second, individual flats inside a larger block can still be HMOs in their own right even if the block itself is exempt — a four-bedroom flat let to four unrelated sharers in a Camden mansion block needs a Camden additional licence regardless of the block's status.

Penalties for Operating Unlicensed

The Housing Act 2004 and the Housing and Planning Act 2016 between them give councils a deep enforcement toolkit. In London in 2026 it gets used:

• Civil penalty up to £30,000 per offence — Under section 126 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 the council can impose a civil penalty as an alternative to prosecution. Recent London penalties have averaged £8,000–£15,000 per offence; serious cases (overcrowded HMOs with fire-safety breaches) hit the £30,000 ceiling routinely.
• Unlimited fine on conviction — Section 72 of the Housing Act 2004 makes operating an unlicensed HMO a criminal offence triable in the Magistrates' Court with an unlimited fine. Conviction also creates a criminal record for the licence holder.
• Rent Repayment Order up to 12 months' rent — Under sections 40–52 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 a tenant (or the council, on a tenant's behalf) can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for an order requiring the landlord to repay up to twelve months of rent paid during the unlicensed period. The funds go to the tenant if rent was self-paid or to the council if Housing Benefit was paid. RROs are independent of any council action and tenant solicitors in London actively chase them.
• Banning Order — A landlord convicted of a banning order offence, or who has received two civil penalties in twelve months, can be banned from letting property under section 14 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016. Banning Orders run for a minimum of twelve months.
• Rogue Landlord database entry — Conviction or a Banning Order leads to mandatory entry on the national Database of Rogue Landlords and Property Agents under section 28 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016. The database is shared between councils and used by lettings platforms.
• Interim Management Order — Under section 102 of the Housing Act 2004 the council can take over management of the property, collect the rent, and pay the landlord only the surplus after compliance works. We see this used on long-term non-compliant HMOs that the council judges are a danger to occupants.

The financial exposure of operating an unlicensed four-person HMO in a London borough with additional licensing can comfortably exceed £60,000 once a civil penalty and a Rent Repayment Order stack — well above the cost of a licence application and the supporting works.

How to Apply and Use a Service

The mechanics of an application are similar across boroughs: submit the form (most boroughs are now online-only), pay the Part A fee, upload the supporting evidence, and wait for inspection. The supporting evidence pack is the heavy lifting:

• BS 5839-6 fire-alarm commissioning certificate — Grade A LD2 minimum for most licensed HMOs; some boroughs require Grade A LD1. Our HMO fire-risk assessment covers the design and commissioning end-to-end.
• EICR no older than five years — A satisfactory EICR for the London property with all C1, C2 and FI codes already remediated and a remedial certificate to evidence the works.
• Gas safety certificate — A current annual gas safety certificate from a Gas Safe-registered engineer if any gas appliance is in use.
• PAS 79 fire-risk assessment — A written assessment by a competent assessor; in larger HMOs this needs to be reviewed annually.
• Floor plan with room sizes — Drawn to scale, with every sleeping room, kitchen, bathroom and circulation space labelled. Each sleeping room must meet the statutory minimum of 6.51 m² for a single occupant or 10.22 m² for a double.
• CO alarm certificate — Confirming a CO alarm in every room with a fixed combustion appliance.
• Energy Performance Certificate — EPC band E minimum under the MEES regulations (with Band C minimum proposed from 2028).
• Proposed licence holder details — Including a fit-and-proper-person declaration, criminal-record disclosure, and evidence of management capability.

Most boroughs offer a discount for early application within an additional-scheme designation — Hillingdon, for example, offers a £200 discount for applications received before the 24 August 2026 live date. Missing the window costs you the discount and triggers exposure to the penalties section above from the live date.

Emergency Repairs London offers a fixed-fee £400 HMO licence application service covering the full evidence pack: floor plan drafting, room-size schedule, fire-risk assessment, BS 5839-6 commissioning, EICR remedial works, gas safety renewal, CO alarm install, EPC ordering and licence form completion. We deal with the borough licensing team directly until the licence is issued. The £400 fee is separate from the council fee — the council fee runs from roughly £600 to £2,000 depending on borough and HMO size, and is paid direct to the council.

The compliance regime around the licence does not stop at the application — once issued, the licence carries conditions and the property is subject to ongoing HMO compliance checks for the five-year duration. We carry the property forward on an annual review cycle so the next renewal lands with the pack already current.

For the wider picture of how HMO licensing fits with EICR, gas safety, EPC and fire risk across a London portfolio, our landlord compliance hub for London is the single page that ties the regimes together.

FAQs

The FAQ schema at the foot of this page covers: whether four tenants need a licence, the difference between mandatory and additional licensing, current London licence costs, the penalties for operating unlicensed, and typical 2026 processing times across the boroughs.

Save the number now — 0207 046 1363 or WhatsApp 07456 975436. Get the licence in place before the council inspector arrives, and the rest of the HMO compliance regime falls into a quiet annual rhythm.

John Alexander N. — Director, Emergency Repairs London