City of Westminster

There are currently two property licensing schemes operating in Westminster. 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

An additional licensing scheme came into force on 30 August 2021 and continues for five years.

The scheme applies to most HMOs in the City of Westminster, including 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.

In an unusual move, the council partially revoked their scheme designation on 1 October 2021. The council originally 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 initially excluded section 257 HMOs consisting solely of two flats where neither flat is above or below commercial premises. They also excluded section 257 HMOs where the flats share no internal or external common parts and are no more than two storeys in height. On 1 October 2021, Westminster City Council decided to remove all section 257 HMOs from their additional licensing scheme.

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

There is a standard fee of £1,450 per property for all additional and mandatory HMO licence applications (was £975 in 2022/23). There is an extra fee of £65 per letting if there are more than five lettings (was £25 in 2022/23).

There is a 10% discount for accredited landlords and agents, which we think is a good idea. 

Registered charities that provide accommodation solely for vulnerable persons are not charged a fee when they apply for a licence.

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

The City of Westminster has an online HMO licensing application process that you can access from the council’s website. 

We offer a licence application handling service in Westminster 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 City of Westminster have a suite of HMO standards that were updated in April 2021, covering Bedsits / studio flats, self-contained flats, flats in multiple occupation and hostels.

You can download the standards 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 May 2019, the council told us they had licensed 306 HMOs. However, when we checked the public register in December 2020, the number had dropped to 293 licensed HMOs.

Every council must have a public register of licensed HMOs. The City of Westminster register can be viewed online here.

In May 2019, the City of Westminster told us they estimated there were about 425 Houses in Multiple Occupation that needed licensing under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme. In June 2021, the council estimated that about 9,000 HMOs will need to be licensed under the additional licensing scheme.

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 607 accredited landlords in the City of Westminster, which was the 10th highest out of all London boroughs.

January 2018: 674 accredited landlords
January 2019: 790 accredited landlords
January 2020: 848 accredited landlords
January 2021: 918 accredited landlords,
January 2022: 1,107 accredited landlords

By January 2023 there were 1,301 accredited landlords, which is slightly below 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!

In March 2015 the City of Westminster told us they were carrying out a scoping exercise to investigate the links between anti-social behaviour and the private rented sector. They said that the exercise would help to ascertain if there was a need for a selective licensing scheme.

In October 2016, the council told us they had decided not to move forwards with plans for a selective licensing scheme but were keeping open the option of an additional licensing scheme.

Things changed again in September 2020 when the council published their draft strategy aimed at raising standards for private tenants. One of their proposals was to introduce an additional licensing scheme covering all HMOs. The final strategy document was published in February 2021 and is available on the council’s website.

From 19 November 2020 to 11 February 2021, the council consulted on plans to implement an additional licensing scheme and you can find out more information on the council’s website.

A borough wide additional licensing scheme was approved at the full council meeting on 21 April 2021 (read here - see agenda item 11) and came into force on 30 August 2021.

All changed again on 23 September 2021 when the Cabinet Member decided to partially revoke the scheme by removing all section 257 HMOs from licensing (read here). The partial revocation came into force on 1 October 2021.

There is a lot happening in Westminster, so we will monitor the situation closely and keep you posted with any further news.

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

In October 2023, we checked Westminster City Council's website and found that there is currently no HMO Article 4 Direction in force.

This means that you do not need planning permission for a change of use from a single-family property (use class C3) to a small HMO shared by three to six unrelated residents (use class C4), although the situation could change in the future.

You can find out more information about Article 4 Directions 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 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: 

Residential Environmental Health Team
Westminster City Council
City Hall
64 Victoria Street
London SW1E 6QP

Email: HMO@westminster.gov.uk
Tel:       020 7641 6161
Website: www.westminster.gov.uk