Yes, most private rented properties in Waltham Forest need to be licensed.
You will need a licence if you rent your property to a single family as Waltham Forest Council have implemented a selective licensing scheme. The original scheme came into force on 1 April 2015 and lasted for five years until 31 March 2020. A replacement scheme covering most of the borough came into force on 1 May 2020.
If you rent your property as a House in Multiple Occupation, the answer is more complicated. The council operate the mandatory HMO licensing scheme that applies across England plus an additional licensing scheme that came into force on 1 April 2020.
If you think you may need a licence, you need to decide which one. We will try to 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:
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Shared houses and flats occupied by students and young professionals;
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Properties converted into bedsits with some shared facilities; and
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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
An additional licensing scheme started on 1 April 2020 and will remain in force until 31 March 2025.
It applies all HMOs in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, so that includes all properties shared by three or more people who are not all related and share facilities.
The council have simplified things slightly by excluding ‘section 257 HMOs: certain converted blocks of flats’ from the scheme. These are properties that:
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have been converted into self-contained flats; and
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less than two thirds of the flats are owner occupied; and
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the conversion did not comply with the relevant Building Regulations in force at that time and still does not comply.
3. Selective licence
A replacement selective licensing scheme started on 1 May 2020 and will remain in force until 30 April 2025.
The scheme applies borough wide except for properties in the Hatch Lame and Endlebury wards.
To check which ward your property is in, you can use the postcode search facility on the council’s website.
Within the designated area, you need a selective licence if your property (house or flat) is let out to a single person, couple, single household or two unrelated sharers.