London Borough of Barnet

There are two licensing schemes operating in Barnet. We will help you choose the right licence for your property:

1. Mandatory HMO licence

You will need a mandatory HMO licence if your property meets the standard test, self-contained flat test or converted building test HMO definition in section 254 of the Housing Act 2004 and is occupied by five or more people.

But what are these tests and what does this mean in practice? It means you need a licence for any house or flat that is occupied by five or more people who are not all related and live in the property as their main home. For example, it includes:

• Shared houses and flats occupied by students and young professionals;
• Properties converted into bedsits with some shared facilities; and
• Properties converted into a mixture of self-contained and non self-contained accommodation.

Prior to 1 October 2018, the mandatory HMO licensing scheme only applied to properties that were three or more storeys in height, but that restriction has now been lifted.

The government have decided to exclude purpose built self-contained flats within a block comprising three or more self-contained flats from the mandatory HMO licensing scheme. While this will be good news for some landlords, it does make the licensing scheme far more complicated.

To find out more, you can read our free guide to mandatory HMO licensing (here).

2. Additional licence

A new borough wide additional licensing scheme came into force on 27 October 2022 and continues for five years.

The scheme applies to all HMOs in the London Borough of Barnet, so that includes all properties shared by three or more people who are not all related and share facilities. You can view the public notice in the ‘More Information’ box on the right of this webpage.

The council have included ‘section 257 HMOs: certain converted blocks of flats’ in the scheme. These are properties that:

• have been converted into self-contained flats; and
• less than two thirds of the flats are owner occupied; and
• the conversion did not comply with the relevant Building Regulations in force at that time and still does not comply.

The council have simplified things slightly by restricting the licensing of section 257 HMOs to situations where the building is three or more storeys in height, comprises at least three flats, all the flats are privately rented and both the building and the self-contained flats it contains are under the same ownership or considered by the council to be effectively under the same control.

To find out more, you can read our free guide to additional licensing (here).

It depends on the type of licence you are applying for.

Mandatory HMO licence

Barnet Council charge a standard HMO licensing fee of £1,546 (was £1,404.02 in 2022/23, £1,386 in 2020/21, £1,233 in 2019/20, £1,202 in 2018/19, £1,008 in 2016/17, £989 in 2015/16 and £985 in 2014/15) plus an extra £29 for each unit of accommodation above five. The fee is payable in two instalments.

In 2022, there was a 10% discount for accredited landlords but that seems to have disappeared.

Additional licence

Barnet Council charge a standard HMO licensing fee of £1,403, plus an extra £29 for each unit of accommodation above five. The fee is payable in two instalments.

The fees we’ve listed are correct as of May 2023 but could be subject to change in the future. You can view the fees in full on the council’s website.

Unfortunately, there is no online application system – it’s a bit old fashioned! Instead, you can download the application form from the council's website, print it out and complete by hand.

Once you have completed the application, you can send it back to the council by post, or scan and email them a copy.

If you need assistance with your licence application, you can find companies offering a licence application handling service in our Landlord Suppliers Directory (here). We also handle some applications, although we specialise in more complex cases where we provide our clients with expert advice and assistance.

It is important to remember that submitting a licence application is only the start of the licence approval process. To help landlords understand what happens next, we have published a free guide here.

Yes, Barnet Council has adopted HMO standards that apply to all licensed HMOs, updated in February 2022. You can download a copy from the council's website.

The standards cover a range of issues such as kitchen, bathroom and toilet facilities, fire precautions, heating, lighting, ventilation and room sizes.

It is important to note that new absolute minimum bedroom sizes for licensed HMOs have been introduced for HMO licence applications approved on or after 1 October 2018:

• 4.64m2 for a child under 10 years old
• 6.51m2 for one person over 10 years old
• 10.22m2 for two people over 10 years old

The council can still ask for larger minimum sizes. These new minimum sizes apply throughout England to HMOs licensed under a mandatory HMO or additional licensing scheme.

In January 2015, Barnet Council told us they had licensed 145 HMOs and by February 2016 that number had risen to 183. When we checked in June 2017 there were 436 licensed HMOs, in July 2018 there were 468 and in May 2019 there were 477 properties licensed under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme.

A further 501 properties had been licensed under the council’s additional licensing scheme in May 2019.

In May 2021, the council said 591 properties had been licensed under the additional licensing scheme and about 600 under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme.

In May 2023, the public register listed 970 licensed HMOs under both schemes.

Every council must have a public register of licensed HMOs that is regularly updated and you can view the register on the council’s website.

In May 2019, Barnet Council told us there were 635 properties that need licensing under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme and 3,836 properties that needed licensing under the old additional licensing scheme.

It is not known how many HMOs require licensing under the new additional licensing scheme that started in October 2022.

If you are the landlord of a licensable HMO, you should apply now to avoid facing the consequences of non-compliance.

Ignore the law and you could pay a heavy price. You risk being prosecuted by the Council and if found guilty you could get a criminal record, be fined an unlimited amount and ordered to pay court costs and a victim surcharge.

Alternatively, the council can issue you with a civil penalty notice of up to £30,000 for not having the correct licence without any warning being given, so this is really serious stuff.  

You could also be subject to a Rent Repayment Order and may have to repay up to 12 months rental income.

Whilst the property is unlicensed, you can’t use a Notice of Seeking Possession under Section 21 Housing Act 1988 to evict your tenants. 
  
And following a successful prosecution, you would probably fail a fit and proper person assessment, making it very difficult for you to obtain a property licence in the future.

Don’t put your livelihood and reputation at risk. Make sure you comply with the law. 

In London, most boroughs publish information about housing prosecutions and civil financial penalties on the Mayor of London’s ‘Rogue landlord and agent checker’. You can search the database by entering a property address, landlord / agent name or by selecting the relevant borough, available here.

There are landlord accreditation schemes operated by the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) and other organisations.  

Whilst we don’t have any figures for the NRLA scheme, we have got information about the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme that is supported by all the London Boroughs. In January 2016, they told us there were 580 accredited landlords in Barnet, which was above average when compared to all the London boroughs.

January 2018: 788 accredited landlords
January 2019: 989 accredited landlords
January 2020: 1,092 accredited landlords
January 2021: 1,196 accredited landlords
January 2022: 1,416 accredited landlords

By January 2023, there were 1,546 accredited landlords which is above average when compared to all the London boroughs. To find out more about becoming accredited, you can visit the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme website here.

In addition to training and development, accredited landlords are entitled to various benefits, including discounted licensing fees in some boroughs. If you are not already a member, we would encourage you to think about joining!

On 14 June 2021 a report was presented to the council’s Housing and Growth Committee recommending a consultation on plans for new additional and selective licensing schemes (read here - see agenda item 12).

The consultation ran from 5 August to 5 November 2021, and you can find out more information on the council’s website.

On 26 July 2022, the council made a borough wide additional licensing designation which came into force on 27 October 2022.

Barnet Council have indicated they will implement a selective licensing scheme in the council wards of Colindale North, Colindale South and Burnt Oak in Summer 2023 but to date, we have no further information about that.

Meanwhile, Barnet Council launched a new selective licensing consultation on 22 February 2023 which continues until 22 July 2023. They are looking at introducing a second larger selective licensing scheme. You can find out more information and take part in the consultation by visiting the council’s website.

There is clearly a lot happening in Barnet so we will monitor the situation closely and keep you posted.

You will need planning permission if you are changing your property from a single-family property to a house in multiple occupation (HMO) occupied by more than six people. HMOs occupied by more than six people fall within ‘sui-generis’ use for which planning permission is required. You also need planning permission if you a splitting up a property into smaller self-contained units of accommodation. 

For smaller HMOs, the rules are more complicated. HMOs occupied by up to six people fall into planning use class C4 whereas single-family properties fall into planning use class C3.

On 28 May 2015, Barnet Council made a borough-wide Article 4 Direction that removes the permitted development rights to change a property from use class C3 to use class C4 without planning permission. You can download a copy of the Article 4 Direction from the ‘More Information’ box on the right of this page.

Barnet Council consulted on the Article 4 Direction from 28 May to 30 August 2015. The Article 4 Direction came into force on 29 May 2016 after being confirmed at Barnet Council’s Planning Committee meeting on 23 May (read here – see agenda item 11).

The effect of the Article 4 Direction is to require planning permission to change the use from a single-family property (C3) to an HMO with up to six occupants (class C4). So even letting your property to three people who are not all related could require planning permission. More information is available on the council’s website. 

We have prepared some general advice on HMO Article 4 Directions that you may find useful, available here. 

Remember that this is only intended as general advice and no liability can be accepted for any reliance upon information provided. We would strongly encourage you to contact the Council’s Planning Department or seek independent legal advice. 

We certainly can. We understand the challenges of being a private landlord and so we have developed a Landlord Suppliers Directory to provide you with access to the goods and services you need. The Directory concentrates on businesses that operate in the London area.

Whether you a looking for a letting agent, want a property inventory for a new tenancy, or fire risk assessment, we have got it covered – and far more besides!

As the leading experts in property licensing, we also offer a range of services ourselves. From handling the licence application process to advice on new HMO developments, we can help to ensure your property business remains compliant. If you need assistance, please drop us a line and see if we can help! 

New suppliers are regularly being added and we would encourage you to take a look. Some of our featured listings also contain YouTube videos, helping you to find out more about the business.

You can contact the council at: 

HMO Licensing Team
Barnet Council
2 Bristol Avenue
London NW9 4EW

Email:  hmos@barnet.gov.uk
Tel:       020 8359 5355
Website: www.barnet.gov.uk