Your Licensing update for May

In our licensing blog this month, we round up all the latest licensing consultations and how to respond to them, as well as full details of all the new schemes coming into force.  There is news from London, as well as the north west.

Active consultations:

London Borough of Brent 

The London Borough of Brent is consulting to renew its borough-wide additional licensing scheme.  

The proposed fee is £1,040 with discounts available for accreditation.  

The consultation closes on 10 June - for further information about the proposals and to submit feedback to the consultation, click here 

London Borough of Hounslow  

The London Borough of Hounslow is consulting to renew its existing borough-wide additional licensing scheme. 

The proposed fee is £1,550, with discounts available for accreditation and the EPC rating of the property.  

The consultation closes on 21 May  – for further information about the proposals and to submit feedback to the consultation, click here 

Schemes coming into force:  

Mansfield District Council  

The council approved a new selective licensing scheme which will cover parts of the borough and come into force on 13 September. 

The scheme will apply to:  

• Streets within Central ward 

• Streets within West Bank and Wainwright wards  

• Market Warsop ward 

• Eakring and Rock wards 

• Streets within Bancroft ward  

Applications for selective licensing open on 12 June, with the licence fee set at £800. Discounts are available for early bird applications and being a member of a recognised accreditation scheme. 

Landlords who need to contact the council for further information can email: [email protected] or the council’s website 

London Borough of Wandsworth  

The council confirmed new selective and additional licensing schemes will come into force 1 July and end 30 June 2030.  

The selective licensing designation will cover the following wards:  

• Furzedown  

• South Balham  

• Tooting Bec  

• Tooting Broadway  

A selective licence fee has not been advertised on the council’s website which the NRLA sought clarity on. The response from the council were unable at this time to fully indicate what the fee will be, and when the licence application process will go live. Further information will be become available on the council’s website.  

The additional licensing scheme will apply borough-wide. The licence fee will start at £1,647 for a three-household property and will increase the more households reside within the property.  

Landlords can contact the council for further information and can email: [email protected] or check the council’s website 

London Borough of Enfield  

The council confirmed a new additional licensing scheme which will cover the entire borough. The new scheme will commence on 1 September and end 1 September 2030.  

The licence fee is set at £1,450, with discounts for accreditation and the EPC rating of the property.  

Further information about the scheme is available via their email address: [email protected] or the council’s website 

Manchester City Council  

The council confirmed a new selective licensing scheme which will cover nine areas of the city will commence in the coming months. The new scheme will commence on 24 May and ending on 23 May 2030 and apply to the following areas:

• Cheetham: Flats above shops and Esmond/Avondale  

• Crumpsall: Enver Road  

• Hapurhey: Whiteway Street  

• Longsight: Heathcote: Sanby Road  

• Longsight: Northmoor Road  

• Miles Platting & Newton Heath: Scotland Street  

• Miles Platting & Newton Heath: Droylsden Road  

• Moss Side: Viscount Street  

• Moss Side: Heald Grove  

The licence fee will be £964 per licence, with discounts available for early bird applications.  

Landlords who need to contact the council for further information can email: [email protected] or check the council’s website 

Coventry City Council  

Coventry City Council is renewing the borough-wide additional licensing scheme for the city. The council consulted earlier on this year and approval was granted on 7 October last year, with the scheme coming into force 4 May and ending 3 May 2030. 

It will cover HMOs which are occupied by three or four occupiers and any HMO defined under section 257 of the Housing Act 2004. 

The licence fee is based on certain eligibility criteria, and ranges from £820 per licence to £2,070.

Landlords who need to contact the council for further information and to apply for a licence can either email the HMO licensing department: [email protected] or ring the department on 024 7697 5467 

Gateshead Council  

Gateshead Council has confirmed new selective and additional licensing schemes will come into force later this year, covering sixteen designated neighbourhoods. The new selective licensing scheme will be rolled out in two phases, with phase one commencing 1 June and covering: 

• Central Gateshead  

• Birtley  

• Chopwell 

• High Fell  

 Phase two will commence 1 October and cover: 

• Central Gateshead  

• Felling  

• Swalwell  

Additional licensing will come into force 1 June and end 31 May 2030 and will apply to properties which are occupied by three or four people that are not related but share facilities. This designation is borough wide.

The licence fee for selective licensing will be £850 and additional at £976.30 per licence. There are discounts available for accreditation and early bird applications.

Landlords who need to contact the council for further information can email: [email protected] or telephone 0191 433 3926/ 433 3365. Boundary maps and further information about the scheme are available on the council’s website 

London Borough of Waltham Forest

The council, following Secretary of State approval, will implement a large selective licensing scheme which will come into force shortly.  

The scheme will cover 20 wards in the borough, excluding Hatch Lane & Highams Park North and Endlebury. The scheme will apply to all houses or individual flats that are privately rented and occupied by a single household or by no more than two unrelated persons unless subject to any statutory exemption.

The scheme will come into force on 1 May and will end on 31 March 2030. The licence fee is £700 per property.

For further information about the scheme, the council’s property licensing team can be contacted via email here: [email protected] or via telephone on 0208 496 4949. Alternatively landlords can find about more about the scheme on the council’s website