Selective licensing: do I need a landlord licence in 2026?

What is selective licensing?

Selective licensing is a power in Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004 that lets a council require a licence for privately rented homes in a chosen area. Inside that area, almost every home let on a tenancy or a licence to occupy needs one, including a house let to a single family. This is what most people mean when they search for a ‘landlord licence’.

A council can designate its whole district or only some streets or wards. The government’s guidance lists the reasons a council may rely on: low housing demand, a significant and persistent problem with anti-social behaviour, poor housing conditions, high levels of migration, high deprivation or high crime.

For the last four of those reasons the area must also have a high proportion of privately rented homes. The guidance uses the national figure as its yardstick: private renting makes up 19% of the housing stock in England, so an area above that level can be treated as having a high proportion.

It is different from HMO licensing, which is about shared houses. If you let to five or more people in two or more households, read our HMO licence guide as well, because that licence is required everywhere in England.

Sources: GOV.UK: selective licensing in the private rented sector, a guide for local authorities

Do I need a landlord licence?

You need one if the property is inside a selective licensing area and no exemption applies. England has no national landlord licence. Outside a designated area, an ordinary rented home that is not an HMO does not need a council licence.

The exemptions are set out in a 2006 Order. They include a tenancy granted to a member of your own family who lives there as their main home, holiday lets, business and agricultural tenancies, long leases of more than 21 years, lettings where the occupier shares a kitchen, bathroom, toilet or living room with the landlord or the landlord’s family, and homes subject to a prohibition order. Homes managed by councils and certain other public bodies are also outside the scheme.

The wording of each exemption is narrow. If you think one covers you, read the Order itself or ask the council to confirm in writing before relying on it.

Sources: GOV.UK: selective licensing in the private rented sector, a guide for local authorities · Legislation: Selective Licensing of Houses (Specified Exemptions) (England) Order 2006

Selective licensing areas: how to check your property

The council for the area the property is in decides, so its website is the place to check. We did not find a single national list on GOV.UK. Councils must publish a notice when they make a scheme, and many provide a postcode search or a map. Leeds City Council publishes a map of its area, for example, and Nottingham City Council has an address lookup.

Check again from time to time. A designation cannot start until three months after it is made, a council must consult for at least 10 weeks first, and schemes end after no more than five years, when a council may consult on a new one. A property that needed no licence when you bought it can be brought into a scheme later.

Councils have to tell people. Under the guidance a council must publish a notice in the area within seven days of a designation being confirmed, and notify everyone it consulted within two weeks. If you let through an agent, make sure the council’s letters reach you and not only the agent.

• Find the council for the property’s address. It may not be the council where you live.
• Search the council’s website for ‘selective licensing’ and use its postcode checker or map.
• Note the date the scheme started and the date it ends.
• Check whether the property is an HMO, which is licensed under different rules.
• If the website is unclear, email the council’s private sector housing team and keep the reply.

Sources: GOV.UK: selective licensing in the private rented sector, a guide for local authorities

How much does a landlord licence cost?

Each council sets its own fee, so there is no national price. The three councils below publish their fees online, and on 5 October 2026 their standard charges ran from £750 to £1,318 for one property. Most split the fee into a part paid on application and a part paid when the licence is granted.

Discounts are common for landlords in an accreditation scheme, and some councils charge more for a paper application or for landlords with a poor compliance record. A licence normally covers one property, so a landlord with four homes in the area pays four fees.

Sources: GOV.UK: selective licensing in the private rented sector, a guide for local authorities

What changed in December 2024?

Since 23 December 2024 councils have been able to bring in a selective licensing scheme of any size without asking the Secretary of State to confirm it. The change was made by a new General Approval and is recorded in the government’s guidance for councils, updated on 16 December 2024.

The legal tests have not been relaxed. A council must still show that the area meets one of the conditions in the Housing Act 2004, consult everyone likely to be affected for at least 10 weeks, and review how the scheme is working. What has gone is the extra step of central government approval, which makes large and city-wide schemes quicker to introduce.

Sources: GOV.UK: selective licensing in the private rented sector, a guide for local authorities

What are the penalties for not having a licence?

Letting a property that should be licensed is a criminal offence under section 95 of the Housing Act 2004, and a court can impose a fine with no upper limit. A council can issue a civil penalty instead of prosecuting. The maximum rose from £30,000 to £40,000 on 1 May 2026. Breaking a condition of a licence you do hold is a separate offence.

A tenant or the council can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order. The tribunal can order up to two years of rent to be repaid, and the application can be made up to two years after the offence.

The offence is committed by the person who has control of the house or manages it. Since 1 May 2026 it can also be committed by a superior landlord, such as an owner who lets to a company that sublets. An owner in that position has a defence if they did not know the house needed a licence, took all practicable steps to get it licensed or had another reasonable excuse. A council that issues a civil penalty cannot also prosecute for the same conduct.

It is a defence that a licence application had been properly made and was still being decided. If you discover a scheme you did not know about, apply at once and get advice about the period before you applied.

Sources: Legislation: Housing Act 2004, section 95, offences in relation to licensing of houses · Legislation: Housing Act 2004, section 249A, financial penalties · GOV.UK: rent repayment orders, guidance for tenants

Selective licensing and the new landlord database

A council licence and the national register are two separate duties. The Private Rented Sector Database, which the government calls the ‘Register your rental property’ service, is due to open region by region from 15 December 2026. Every landlord of an assured or regulated tenancy will have to register, wherever the property is. Our guide to the landlord database has the dates.

Holding a licence does not register you, and registering does not license you. The registration form is expected to ask whether the property needs a licence. The government’s guide to the Renters’ Rights Act says the database will give councils the information on rented homes they have lacked, and that selective licensing ‘remains a valuable tool when used appropriately’.

The Act also creates a landlord ombudsman that landlords are expected to have to join in 2028. That is a third, separate requirement.

Sources: GOV.UK: guide to the Renters’ Rights Act · Housing Hub (HM Government): get ready for the ‘Register your rental property’ service

Applying for and keeping a licence

You apply through the council, usually online. Each council has its own form, and the three councils in the table above all take the fee in two parts, one with the application and one when the licence is granted. The licence comes with conditions, and breaking one is an offence in its own right, so read them when the licence arrives.

Apply as soon as you know a scheme covers the property. The defence described above depends on an application having been properly made, so a complete application with the fee paid is what protects you while the council decides.

Keep the licence, its conditions and its end date with the property’s other records, such as the gas safety certificate and the electrical report. Our landlord certificates checklist lists what a rented home needs. If you sell the property, ask the council what happens to the licence, because the buyer will usually have to apply for their own.

Sources: GOV.UK: selective licensing in the private rented sector, a guide for local authorities

Common questions