London Borough of Bexley

There is currently one licensing scheme operating in Bexley. The second licensing scheme has ended. 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. Selective licence

The selective licensing scheme ended on 31 August 2023. You previously needed a selective licence if your property (house or flat) was let out to a single household or two unrelated sharers in Thamesmead North, Abbey Wood / Lower Belvedere or parts of Erith. The scheme also applied to HMOs in that area that were not already licensed under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme.

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

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

Mandatory HMO licence

For new applications, the council charge a base fee of £320 (was £305 in 2020/21, £265 in 2019/20) plus £166 per letting (was £162.50 in 2021/22, £155 in 2020/21, £145 in 2019/20). So, an HMO with five separate single person lettings / bedrooms costs £1,150. The fee is paid in two installments.

Selective licence

The council did charge a fixed fee of £766 per property (was £730 in 2020/21, £690 in 2019/20) which was paid in two instalments, but that scheme has now ended.

The fees we have listed are correct as of September 2023, although they could be subject to change in the future. You can view the fees on the council’s website.

Bexley Council has an online application and payment system and you can apply by visiting the council’s website.

We offer a licence application handling service in Bexley and you can find further information here. Simply complete the online enquiry form to get the process underway.  

You can find other companies offering a licence application handling service in our Landlord Suppliers Directory (here).

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, the council have published HMO standards that apply to all licensed HMOs. You can also view a copy on the council’s website. You will need to click on the link “Important information about applying for a licence”.

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 will apply throughout England to HMOs licensed under a mandatory HMO or additional licensing scheme.

By April 2022, the council’s public register listed 149 mandatory HMO licences and 1,786 selective licences. It is not known how many selective licences had been issued by the time the scheme ended in August 2023.

Bexley Council keeps a public register of all licensed properties that is regularly updated and can be viewed on the council’s website.

In May 2019, Bexley Council told us that they think there could be 525 licensable HMOs in the borough.

Any landlords of licensable properties should apply now to avoid facing the consequences on 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 294 accredited landlords in Bexley, which was the fourth lowest out of all London boroughs.

January 2018: 309 accredited landlords
January 2019: 428 accredited landlords
January 2020: 442 accredited landlords
January 2021: 473 accredited landlords
January 2022: 655 accredited landlords

By January 2023 there were 797 accredited landlords, which is second lowest 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!

The selective licensing scheme ended on 31 August 2023. An update on the council’s website explains Bexley Council is considering the next steps and reviewing the data to decide whether to designate a new selective licensing scheme.

If the council want to implement a new licensing scheme, they must undertake a public consultation for at least 10 weeks before making any decision.

We will continue to monitor the situation. For all the latest news, you can sign up to our free newsletter.

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 will also need planning permission if you a splitting up a property into smaller self-contained units of accommodation. 

For smaller HMOs, the rules are a bit more complicated. HMOs occupied by between three and six people fall into planning use class C4 whereas single-family properties fall into planning use class C3.

On 16 September 2016, Bexley Council made a non-immediate HMO Article 4 Direction that removes the permitted development rights to change a property from a single-family house (use class C3) to an HMO occupied by up to six people (use class C4) without planning permission.

Bexley Council consulted on the HMO Article 4 Direction from 23 September to 4 November 2016.

The Article 4 Direction applies borough-wide and came into force on 24 September 2017. So from that date, even letting your property to three people who are not all related could require planning permission.

You can download a copy of the Article 4 Direction from the ‘More Information’ box on the right of this page. You can also find out more information on the council’s website.

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 before you start a new HMO development.

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 negotiation and dispute resolution, 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: 

Private Sector Team
Bexley Council
Civic Offices
2 Watling Street
Bexleyheath
Kent DA6 7AT

Email:  rentitright@bexley.gov.uk
Tel:       020 3045 3456
Website: www.bexley.gov.uk