Is your landlord licensed?

Many rental properties need a council licence — house shares (HMOs), and many homes in “selective licensing” areas. Letting without one is a criminal offence. If your landlord isn’t licensed, you can claim back up to two years of rent.

Is your landlord licensed?

Enter your postcode and we’ll point you at your council’s licensing register. Two minutes of searching tells you whether you might have a claim worth several thousand pounds.

That doesn’t look like a UK postcode — try again.

Your local authority

We don’t have a direct deep-link for

Mayor of London’s property-licence checker

covers all 33 London boroughs in one place — type your postcode in there and it tells you whether your property needs a licence and who the licence holder is.

We don’t have a direct deep-link to this council’s licensing register yet — we’re backfilling coverage as users surface gaps. We’ve pre-filled a search for “

private rented housing licensing register” — opens the right council page directly.

’s public licensing register, search for your address, and check whether the landlord is listed. If they’re NOT on the register and the property is an HMO or in a selective-licensing area, you may have an RRO claim worth up to 24 months’ rent.

What to look for on the register

• Search by your address
• — most registers let you search by street or postcode. If your property comes up, the licence holder’s name should match your landlord (or their company).
• Check the licence dates
• — note the start and expiry. If the licence expired before your tenancy ended, that’s an RRO trigger for the unlicensed period.
• — print to PDF or screenshot. Either “not found” result or a licence-mismatch is your evidence for the tribunal.
• Check selective licensing
• — even non-HMO properties need a licence in designated streets / wards. Search your council’s “selective licensing” page to see if your area is covered.

If your landlord is unlicensed

Operating an unlicensed HMO or property in a selective-licensing area is a

(Housing Act 2004 s.72/s.95) and a Rent Repayment Order trigger. You can claim back

up to 24 months of rent

via the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) — the cap was doubled from 12 months by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.

We’re backfilling council coverage week by week — if your area shows the gov.uk fallback, send us the link to your council’s register at

hello@startmyclaim.ai

and we’ll add it. Not legal advice. For complex situations, get a second opinion from a qualified housing solicitor.