HMO Licence in Leeds: Fee, Who Needs One and How to Apply

The fee, from Leeds’s own page

'The licence fee is payable in two parts. You will get a £150 discount on the second part of the fee if you are a Leeds Rental Standard member.' Licence fee for all properties: First stage £635, Second stage £340, Total £975. Leeds Rental Standard member: £635 + £190 = £825. No fee year label shown on page.

Flat fee model with an accreditation discount, not per-room.

Leeds’s new-licence fee sits below the median of the 34 councils whose fee we could read from their own pages (£1,364). The cheapest verified is Islington at £288 and the dearest Lambeth at £2,530; fee structures differ — some charge per room or in occupancy bands, so a large HMO can cost far more than the headline figure above.

Who needs a licence in Leeds

The national rule is the same everywhere in England and Wales — 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.” Whether a smaller shared house needs a licence depends on whether the council runs an additional or selective scheme:

Additional licensing (smaller HMOs): not confirmed either way on the pages we read (Not covered on this page; Leeds is known to run additional licensing in some wards per secondary sources but not verified here.) — check the council’s licensing pages before letting to fewer than five.

Selective licensing (all private lets in an area): yes. See leeds.gov.uk/housing/information-for-landlords/selective-licensing. Inside a selective area every private tenancy needs a licence, HMO or not.

Letting a licensable HMO without a licence is an offence; the penalties, rent repayment orders and the fee’s tax treatment are on the HMO licence in England guide.

The Leeds numbers around an HMO

• How many HMOs: the council estimated 21,000 HMOs in Leeds, of which 3,500 were mandatory-licensable and 2,938 licences had been issued (LAHS 2024-25, MHCLG) — every council’s figures.
• Rents: the average 4+-bedroom rent in Leeds is £1,683 a month (ONS, July 2026) against £1,140 across all sizes — rents, prices and yield in Leeds.
• EPC: 40% of EPCs lodged here in the last year were below band C, the level a rented home needs by 1 October 2030 (EPC ratings in Leeds).
• Council tax: Band D is £2,284 for 2026/27; in an HMO let room by room the landlord is usually the liable person (council tax in Leeds).

How to apply

Applications go to the council, not to a national body. Have the floor plans, gas and electrical certificates, fire-safety details and the manager’s details ready; most councils take a non-refundable first payment on submission and the balance on grant (the quote above shows where Leeds splits its fee, if it does).

Apply or check on Leeds’s site

All councils compared · Student HMOs and Ground 4A · Renters’ Rights Act rules