Additional licensing

A local licensing scheme that catches smaller HMOs a council is worried about — on top of, and separate from, the mandatory licensing that already applies to larger ones.

How is additional licensing different from mandatory HMO licensing?

Mandatory licensing applies automatically, across the whole country, to larger HMOs — broadly, those with five or more occupiers forming two or more households. Additional licensing is a local scheme a council chooses to introduce, extending licensing to smaller HMOs in its area that fall outside mandatory licensing but which the council considers are often poorly managed.

How is additional licensing different from selective licensing?

Additional licensing only applies to HMOs. Selective licensing can apply to any privately rented property in a designated area, HMO or not, and is usually introduced to tackle wider problems such as poor property conditions, antisocial behaviour or deprivation. A single council can run both schemes at once, covering different, sometimes overlapping, parts of its area.

How do I find out if my property needs an additional licence?

Check the relevant council's website for its list of licensing designations, which will state the exact boundary and the types of property covered. Designations are geographic and can change over time, so a property that was outside a scheme when a tenancy started can later fall within one.

What happens if a landlord operates an HMO without a required additional licence?

It is a criminal offence, and the local authority can impose a civil penalty of up to £40,000 — raised from £30,000 by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 — as an alternative to prosecution, or prosecute in serious or repeat cases. A tenant can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order, potentially recovering rent paid while the property was operated without the required licence.

Does an additional licence guarantee the property is safe?

No. A licence records that the council has assessed the landlord as a fit and proper person and imposed conditions — often covering matters such as room sizes, fire safety, gas and electrical checks, and management standards. It is a regulatory control, not a guarantee, and a licensed HMO can still develop hazards that a tenant needs to report separately.

Can a tenant apply for a rent repayment order even if the landlord has now got a licence?

Yes, provided the offence — operating without a licence — was committed during the period the tenant is claiming for. Getting a licence afterwards does not undo the earlier offence, though the First-tier Tribunal will look at the full picture, including how promptly the landlord put things right, when deciding the amount to award.

Why additional licensing exists alongside mandatory licensing

Mandatory HMO licensing, which applies nationally to larger HMOs, was never meant to catch every shared house. Plenty of smaller HMOs — a house shared by three or four unrelated tenants, for example — sit outside mandatory licensing entirely, yet a council may still see a pattern of poor management, overcrowding or fire safety failures concentrated in exactly this kind of property in a particular part of its area.

Additional licensing lets a council respond to that local pattern directly. Rather than waiting for national rules to change, it can designate all or part of its area so that smaller HMOs there also need a licence, subject to the same kind of fit-and-proper-person checks and management conditions that apply to mandatory licensing.

How a designation is made and what it covers

• The council must be satisfied a significant proportion of HMOs of the type it wants to catch are being managed poorly enough to justify licensing.
• Before making a designation, the council must consult people likely to be affected, including landlords and tenants in the proposed area.
• Designation takes effect.
• Once confirmed, landlords of qualifying HMOs in the area have a set period to apply, usually with a licence fee and conditions attached.
• A licence typically sets conditions on room sizes, fire precautions, gas and electrical safety checks, and management standards, which the council can inspect and enforce.

A council designates part of a city with a high concentration of shared student housing as an additional licensing area, covering HMOs with three or four occupiers that would otherwise need no licence at all. A landlord letting a four-bedroom shared house in that area continues operating without applying, unaware the designation now applies to her property.

Civil penalty exposure

Rent repayment order

Rent repayment order period

Once tenants discover the property should have been licensed, they can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order covering rent paid while the offence was being committed, separately from any civil penalty the council itself decides to impose on the landlord.

HMO — House in Multiple Occupation

Housing Act 2004, Part 2

HMO and residential property licensing reform guidance

Additional Licensing — Renters' Rights Glossary

What an additional HMO licensing designation is, how it differs from mandatory and selective licensing, and what happens if a landlord operates without one.