Published 15 September 2026. Licence fees taken from the published fee pages of six English councils on 15 September 2026; compliance prices from published fire safety, electrical and certificate quotes collected September 2026. Rules from Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004, the Prescribed Description Order 2018, the Mandatory Conditions Regulations 2018 and the Renters' Rights Act 2025.

HMO Licence Cost 2026: Fees by Council and What Compliance Adds

A mandatory HMO licence costs £500 to £1,500 for five years at most English councils in 2026, and the London boroughs that charge per room go well above that. The fee is the smaller half of the bill. The conditions attached to the licence, fire doors, interlinked alarms, a fire risk assessment, room sizes and the manager's duties, typically add £2,700 to £5,000 to a five-bedroom house the first time round. This guide answers how much is an HMO licence at six named councils as at 15 September 2026, explains why the fee comes in two parts, prices each compliance item, sets out the £40,000 civil penalty and 24-month rent repayment orders that now apply to unlicensed HMOs, and ends with a worked example for a five-bed house.

What counts as an HMO and when you need a licence

A house in multiple occupation is, under section 254 of the Housing Act 2004, a property let to three or more people who form more than one household and share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. A household is a family or a couple, so three unrelated sharers are three households. Being an HMO is not the same as needing a licence. Licensing comes in three layers, and the first applies everywhere in England.

• Mandatory licensing covers any HMO occupied by five or more people forming two or more households who share facilities. Since 1 October 2018, when the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Description) (England) Order 2018 came into force, there is no storey test: a two-storey terrace or a flat with five sharers needs a licence just as a three-storey house does. Purpose-built blocks of three or more self-contained flats are excluded.
• Additional licensing is a scheme a council designates under section 56 of the Act for smaller HMOs, usually three or four sharers, in all or part of its area. Since the General Approval of 23 December 2024 a council no longer needs the Secretary of State to confirm an additional or selective scheme of any size, though it must consult for at least ten weeks first.
• Selective licensing under Part 3 of the Act covers every private rental in a designated area, HMO or not. If your street is in a selective area, a two-bed flat let to a couple needs a licence too.

To check your council, search its website for "property licensing" or "HMO licensing"; most publish a map or postcode checker of designated areas, and every designation must be advertised before it starts. A licence runs for up to five years (section 68(4)) and cannot be transferred (section 68(6)), so a buyer of a licensed HMO applies for a fresh one. If a property has become licensable and you are taking steps to stop it being an HMO, a temporary exemption notice under section 62 covers three months, with a second three months only in exceptional circumstances. Put the licence expiry in the compliance calendar alongside the gas and electrical dates; the unlicensed weeks after expiry are the ones councils charge a higher rate for.

How much is an HMO licence? Fees by council

Each council sets its own HMO licence fee to recover the cost of running its scheme, so there is no national figure. We read the fee pages of six councils on 15 September 2026. Four charge a flat fee per property, one charges by bedroom count above five, and one London borough charges per lettable room. All quote a five-year licence unless stated.

Fees as displayed on each council's own fee page on 15 September 2026. Cherwell, Oxford and South Cambridgeshire publish 2026 to 2027 rates; the Coventry, Bradford and Lewisham pages carry no fee year. Most councils change fees on 1 April, so check the page before you pay.

Across these six, a standard five-bedroom HMO costs £830 to £944 to license outside London and £1,625 in Bradford, or £166 to £325 a year over the licence. Lewisham's per-room model reaches £2,500 for five rooms before discounts. The range quoted in most surveys, £500 to £1,500, holds for the majority of English councils; the outliers are per-room boroughs and the higher rates councils charge landlords who applied late. Oxford's £3,190 higher rate is almost four times its standard fee, which is the clearest price signal in the table: apply before the property becomes licensable, not after the council writes to you.

Why the fee comes in two parts, and renewals

Every council in the table splits its fee, and the reason is a court case. In R (Gaskin) v Richmond upon Thames LBC [2018] EWHC 1996 (Admin), decided on 31 July 2018, the High Court held that letting property is a service under the Provision of Services Regulations 2009, so a council may only charge up front for the cost of processing the application. The remaining cost of running and enforcing the scheme can be charged only to landlords whose licence is granted. Hence stage 1 at application and stage 2 at grant.

• Stage 1 (application) is usually £130 to £716 and is non-refundable at Bradford and Coventry even if you withdraw. It pays for the fit and proper person check, the document review and the inspection.
• Stage 2 (grant) is invoiced when the council issues its notice of intention to grant, and at Coventry must be paid within 14 days. It is the part discounts attach to: Lewisham cuts it from £250 to £150 per room for accredited landlords, Bradford takes 15 percent off for a property that passes inspection first time.
• Renewals are cheaper at four of the six councils because the council already holds the file: £570 at Cherwell against £830 new, £610 at Oxford against £858, £544 at South Cambridgeshire against £895. Coventry charges almost the same either way. Renewal fees also fall for shorter licences, but a one-year licence costs more per year, not less.

Two practical points. Apply for renewal before the current licence expires: the higher rates at Oxford and Cherwell are triggered by weeks unlicensed, and a lapsed licence is an offence from the day it ends. And send a complete application: Bradford's 5 percent discount for a full application is the cheapest money you will save this year, and an incomplete one restarts the clock.

What the licence conditions cost

The licence fee buys the right to let. The conditions attached to it are where the money goes. Schedule 4 of the Housing Act 2004 makes some conditions mandatory on every HMO licence: produce the annual gas safety record on demand, keep electrical appliances and furniture safe and declare it, keep the electrical installation safe, install and maintain smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms in rooms with a combustion appliance, and give each occupier a written statement of the tenancy terms. The 2018 regulations added the room sizes and the council's waste scheme. On top of that, each council attaches its own fire safety and amenity conditions, most of them drawn from the LACORS housing fire safety guidance, and it is these that produce the invoices below.

Published quotes from fire safety installers, registered electricians and certificate providers, September 2026, including VAT, outside London. Add 20 to 40 percent in London and the South East. The certificate cost calculator prices the EICR, gas and fire risk assessment for your postcode.

Room sizes. Since 1 October 2018 every HMO licence in England must state the maximum number of people who may sleep in each room and must apply the national minimums: 6.51 square metres for one person over 10, 10.22 square metres for two people over 10, 4.64 square metres for a child under 10, and no room under 4.64 square metres used for sleeping at all. This is not a cost so much as a cap on income. A box room of 6 square metres that let for £450 a month cannot be a bedroom on a licensed HMO, and a "double" of 9.5 square metres is a single. Measure every room before you buy a house to run as an HMO.

Amenity standards. Each council publishes its own standard for the number of bathrooms, WCs, wash basins, cookers, sinks, worktops and fridge space per occupier. A five-person house with one bathroom is routinely asked to add a second WC or shower room, and if that condition lands it is usually the single most expensive item on the list, well into four figures. Ask the council for its amenity standard before you apply, and if the existing layout falls short, price the building work into the decision with the rental yield calculator.

An EICR that comes back unsatisfactory adds its own bill; see what the C1, C2 and C3 codes cost to fix. Insurers also price HMOs higher than single lets, typically 20 to 40 percent more for the same rebuild value, which the landlord insurance guide covers.

Manager duties under the 2006 management regulations

The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006, in force since 6 April 2006, apply to every HMO whether or not it needs a licence, and a licensing inspection is where breaches get found. The person managing the property must:

• Regulation 3: display their name, address and telephone number in the house and give them to every occupier.
• Regulation 4: keep escape routes clear, keep fire equipment and alarms in working order, display fire safety notices and take reasonable measures to protect occupiers from injury.
• Regulation 5: keep the water supply and drainage in good working order, tanks covered and pipes protected from frost.
• Regulation 6: produce the gas safety record to the council on request, have the electrical installation inspected and tested every five years and hold the certificate.
• Regulation 7: keep the common parts in repair, clean and lit, with safe handrails, banisters, stairs and windows, and shared appliances working.
• Regulation 8: keep each letting in clean condition at the start of a tenancy and its fixtures, fittings and ventilation in repair.
• Regulation 9: provide enough bins and arrange refuse collection.

Regulation 10 puts matching duties on occupiers to cooperate, allow access and not damage fire equipment, which is worth quoting in the tenancy. Breach is an offence under section 234 of the Housing Act 2004 and sits on the list of offences councils can settle with a civil penalty of up to £40,000 instead of a prosecution. In cost terms the regulations mean a monthly walk-through of the common parts, a fire alarm test logged in a book, and a cleaner or the landlord doing the hallway and kitchen; budget £40 to £80 a month if you pay someone, and log it either way.

Penalties: £40,000 civil penalties and rent repayment orders

Letting a licensable HMO without a licence is an offence under section 72(1) of the Housing Act 2004, and since the 2015 sentencing changes the fine in the magistrates' court is unlimited. In practice councils rarely prosecute a first offence. They use the alternatives, which are faster and keep the money.

• Civil penalty. For offences committed on or after 1 May 2026 the statutory maximum civil penalty for failing to licence an HMO, over-occupying one or breaching a licence condition is £40,000 per offence, up from £30,000 before that date. Councils set starting points in a published policy: West Suffolk's June 2026 policy starts an unlicensed HMO at £17,000 before adjustment for the landlord's portfolio and record. Each offence attracts a separate penalty, so an unlicensed house that also breaches the management regulations is two penalties.
• Rent repayment order. Tenants, or the council where it paid housing benefit or Universal Credit, can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for the rent back. Section 103 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 doubled the maximum from 12 months to 24 months for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026 and extended the window to apply to two years. Superior landlords and company directors are now within reach. For a five-bed HMO at £550 a room that is up to £66,000, and it is the tenants' money to claim whether or not the council acts.
• The database. From 15 December 2026 licensing offences and civil penalties will be recorded against the landlord on the private rented sector database, and a banning order under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 remains available for repeat offenders. The Renters' Rights Act cost guide sets out the wider penalty regime and the Renters' Rights checker scores your position in fourteen questions.

Set against that, the licence fee is £166 to £325 a year. There is no arithmetic in which not licensing is the cheaper option, and the defence of not knowing the property was an HMO is available only to a superior landlord who took reasonable steps, not to the person collecting the rent.

Article 4 directions and planning

Licensing and planning are separate systems run by separate departments, and a licence does not grant planning permission. In planning terms a house shared by three to six unrelated people is Use Class C4, inserted into the Use Classes Order on 6 April 2010. Changing a family house (Class C3) to a small HMO (Class C4) is permitted development under Class L of the General Permitted Development Order 2015, so no application is needed, unless the council has made an Article 4 direction removing that right. An HMO for seven or more people is outside any use class (sui generis) and always needs planning permission.

Article 4 directions now cover most university towns and much of London. Redbridge's came into force on 6 December 2019, Bournemouth's in December 2011 and the Talbot Village part of Poole on 1 May 2013; Manchester, Oxford, Nottingham, Brighton and dozens more have them. Where a direction applies, converting a house to a five-bed HMO needs a change of use application with drawings, and refusal rates in saturated streets are high. Check the planning position before the licence, because a council can grant a licence and then serve a planning enforcement notice on the same property. For the property itself, remember that the EPC C deadline of 1 October 2030 applies to HMOs let on whole-house tenancies just as to any other rental.

Worked example: a five-bed HMO

A two-storey, five-bedroom terrace in the Midlands, let to five sharers on individual room agreements at £550 a room, being licensed for the first time. The house has hollow internal doors, battery smoke alarms and one bathroom plus a downstairs WC, which meets the council's amenity standard. Prices are the middle of the ranges above.

September 2026 prices including VAT, outside London. A three-storey house adds £500 to £1,500 for emergency lighting. Add the amenity works if the council asks for a second bathroom.

The recurring cost is smaller: the licence at £166 to £190 a year, the gas check, PAT testing and a monthly alarm test, plus the EICR spread over five years, comes to roughly £330 to £530 a year before insurance and management. Against gross rent of £33,000 a year that is 1 to 2 percent. The first-year bill of £3,575 to £5,930 is 11 to 18 percent of one year's rent, or £60 to £100 a month per room over the five-year licence. Room-by-room lets carry higher voids, more turnover and more deposits to protect, which the deposit calculator and the running-cost guide put numbers on; the point of this example is that the licence fee is a tenth of the compliance bill, and both are a fraction of a £40,000 penalty.

Frequently asked questions

How much is an HMO licence in 2026?

£500 to £1,500 for a five-year licence at most English councils. On 15 September 2026 a standard new licence was £830 at Cherwell, £858 at Oxford, £895 at South Cambridgeshire, £944 at Coventry and £1,625.05 at Bradford, while Lewisham charges £500 per lettable room, or £2,500 for five. Renewals at the same councils run £544 to £937.

Do I need an HMO licence for four people?

Not a mandatory one: mandatory licensing starts at five people from two or more households sharing facilities, and since 1 October 2018 it applies whatever the number of storeys. A four-person house needs a licence only if your council runs an additional licensing scheme for smaller HMOs, or a selective licensing scheme covering all rentals in the area, so check the council's licensing map before you let.

What is the HMO licence fee split into?

Two parts, because of the Gaskin ruling of 31 July 2018. An application fee, typically £130 to £716, is paid up front and covers processing; a grant fee is paid only if the licence is issued and covers running and enforcing the scheme. Discounts for accredited landlords or complete applications usually come off the second part.

What is the penalty for an unlicensed HMO?

An unlimited fine on prosecution, or more commonly a civil penalty of up to £40,000 per offence for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026 (£30,000 before that). Tenants can also claim a rent repayment order of up to 24 months' rent for offences from 1 May 2026, up from 12 months, and the offence will appear on the landlord database from 15 December 2026.

What are the minimum room sizes for an HMO?

Since 1 October 2018 a licensed HMO bedroom must be at least 6.51 square metres for one person over 10, 10.22 square metres for two people over 10 and 4.64 square metres for a child under 10. Any room under 4.64 square metres cannot be used for sleeping, and the licence states the maximum occupants for each room.

Do I need planning permission as well as a licence?

Sometimes. A shared house for three to six people is Use Class C4 and changing to it from a family home is permitted development unless the council has an Article 4 direction, as Redbridge has had since 6 December 2019 and Bournemouth since December 2011. Seven or more occupants is sui generis and always needs planning permission. The licence does not give you either.

Sources

Housing Act 2004 section 72, section 68, section 62 and Schedule 4; the Licensing of HMOs (Prescribed Description) (England) Order 2018; the Licensing of HMOs (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) (England) Regulations 2018; the Management of HMOs (England) Regulations 2006; Renters' Rights Act 2025 Part 4 (section 103 on rent repayment orders); GOV.UK on HMO licensing; GOV.UK civil penalties guidance and the West Suffolk civil penalty policy, June 2026; the £30,000 to £40,000 increase from 1 May 2026 as reported by Propertymark; the General Approval 2024; London Property Licensing on the Gaskin judgment; the Use Classes (Amendment) Order 2010 and GPDO 2015 Schedule 2 Part 3; Article 4 pages at Redbridge and BCP Council; fee pages at Cherwell, Oxford, South Cambridgeshire, Coventry, Bradford and Lewisham, all read 15 September 2026; published fire safety, electrical and certificate quotes, September 2026. See the methodology.