HMO Licence Fees by Council: What Each Council Charges in 2026
What each council charges for a mandatory HMO licence, read from the councils’ own pages on 5 September 2026 — new and renewal fees, structure, licence length, and whether additional or selective licensing is in force.
What a mandatory HMO licence costs, council by council
Across the 34 councils whose fee we could read from their own pages, a new mandatory HMO licence costs from £288 (Islington) to £2,530 (Lambeth), with a median of £1,364. Most licences run five years, so the median works out at about £273 a year. Structures differ: flat fees, per-room fees and occupancy bands all exist, so the headline figure is the smallest HMO the council prices — open the council’s page for the full schedule and the council’s own words.
| Council | New | Renewal | Structure | Years | Additional | Selective |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lambeth | £2,530 | £1,575 | per-room | — | Yes | ? |
| Redbridge | £2,186 | £2,186 | banded | — | Yes | ? |
| Harrow | £1,900 | — | two-part | 5 | ? | Yes |
| Bristol | £1,886 | £1,564 | two-part | 5 | Yes | Yes |
| Bradford | £1,625 | — | banded | — | ? | ? |
| Coventry | £1,571 | £937 | banded | 5 | Yes | ? |
| Luton | £1,554 | £1,554 | per-room | 5 | Yes | Yes |
| Nottingham | £1,553 | — | two-part | — | Yes | Yes |
| Wolverhampton | £1,547 | — | per-room | — | Yes | ? |
| Camden | £1,531 | £1,531 | flat | — | Yes | ? |
| Bournemouth | £1,511 | £1,392 | two-part | 5 | ? | ? |
| Reading | £1,500 | £1,500 | per-room | — | Yes | ? |
| Barking and Dagenham | £1,500 | £1,500 | banded | 5 | Yes | Yes |
| Canterbury | £1,499 | £1,499 | per-room | 5 | ? | ? |
| Newham | £1,400 | £1,400 | banded | 5 | Yes | Yes |
| Hackney | £1,400 | £1,400 | flat | — | Yes | Yes |
| Derby | £1,368 | £979 | per-room | 5 | ? | ? |
| Haringey | £1,360 | £1,360 | flat | 5 | Yes | ? |
| Liverpool | £1,328 | £1,328 | per-room | 5 | ? | Yes |
| Manchester | £1,321 | £1,121 | banded | 5 | ? | Yes |
| Portsmouth | £1,257 | £1,191 | per-room | 5 | Yes | ? |
| Norwich | £1,141 | £1,141 | flat | 5 | ? | ? |
| Cambridge | £1,133 | £1,000 | two-part | — | ? | ? |
| Plymouth | £1,097 | £1,040 | flat | — | ? | ? |
| Tower Hamlets | £977 | £977 | flat | — | Yes | ? |
| Leeds | £975 | £975 | flat | 5 | ? | Yes |
| Hull | £910 | £910 | per-room | — | ? | ? |
| Brighton & Hove | £906 | £740 | banded | — | No | Yes |
| Leicester | £900 | — | flat | — | ? | Yes |
| Bolton | £894 | — | per-room | 5 | No | ? |
| Oxford | £858 | £392 | two-part | 5 | Yes | Yes |
| Milton Keynes | £730 | £730 | flat | 5 | ? | ? |
| Croydon | £295 | £295 | per-room | 5 | Yes | Yes |
| Islington | £288 | £288 | per-room | — | Yes | Yes |
| Birmingham | — | — | other | — | Yes | ? |
| Cardiff | — | — | two-part | 5 | Yes | ? |
| York | — | — | banded | 5 | Yes | ? |
| Hounslow | — | — | per-room | — | Yes | ? |
The national rule every council applies
gov.uk: “You must have a licence if you’re renting out a large HMO in England or Wales. Your property is defined as a large HMO if all of the following apply: it is rented to 5 or more people who form more than 1 household; some or all tenants share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities; at least 1 tenant pays rent (or their employer pays it for them).” … “A licence is valid for a maximum of 5 years. You must renew your licence before it runs out. You need a separate licence for each HMO you run.” Below that threshold a licence is needed only where the council runs an additional scheme (smaller HMOs) or a selective scheme (all private lets in a defined area) — the last two columns above say what each council’s pages told us, with “?” where the page did not say.
Councils we could not read
These councils’ websites could not be read automatically on 5 September 2026, so we publish no figure for them rather than a second-hand one: Barnet, Bath, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Exeter, Greenwich, Hillingdon, Lancaster, Lewisham, Lincoln, Newcastle, Preston, Salford, Sheffield, Southampton, Southwark, Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea, Waltham Forest, Wigan. Each link goes to the council’s own licensing page.
How the fee is treated for tax
The licence fee, the certificates it requires and the works a licence condition demands are dealt with on the HMO licence in England guide; the split between revenue repairs and capital improvements is on allowable expenses. Student HMOs have their own possession ground under the Renters’ Rights Act — Ground 4A.
Council fee pages read 5 September 2026 (each council page lists its own URL and quote). National rule: House in multiple occupation licence, GOV.UK. Rankings and medians are ours across the councils shown; fees change at each council’s budget round.
Asked about HMO licence fees
It is set by each council. Among the 34 councils whose fee we read from their own pages, a new licence runs from £288 (Islington) to £2,530 (Lambeth), median £1,364, usually for five years.
Of the councils we verified, Islington at £288 for a new application; Lambeth is the dearest at £2,530. Per-room and banded structures mean a large HMO can cost more elsewhere.
Nationally, when a property is let to five or more people forming more than one household who share a toilet, bathroom or kitchen (gov.uk). Councils can also license smaller HMOs (additional licensing) or all private lets in an area (selective licensing).
Up to five years per gov.uk; councils may grant shorter licences and some charge a reduced fee for them.