News

Confusion about Sutton Council’s new landlord licensing scheme

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026 - Sutton Council

London Property Licensing has discovered a new additional landlord licensing scheme starts in the London Borough of Sutton on 22 March 2026.

In August 2025, we raised concern about the council’s additional landlord licensing consultation as it contained very little information about the proposed scheme and there was no supporting evidence base (read here).

According to the council, about 110 people took part in the licensing consultation which ended on 8 September 2025.

On 25 November 2025, a report was approved at the council’s Housing, Economy and Business Committee, and decision made to implement a borough wide additional licensing scheme.

New additional licensing scheme

Sutton Council’s new additional licensing scheme comes into force on Sunday 22 March 2026. The council estimate 690 properties will need licensing under the new scheme, with landlords and letting agents not having much time to prepare.

The additional licensing scheme will apply borough wide. It seems to include all Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) that are not already licensable under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme.

There is some confusion about so-called section 257 HMOs, which are certain buildings converted into self-contained flats.

To our knowledge, section 257 HMOs which can include long leasehold owner occupied flats were not referred to in the licensing consultation. It only referred to houses split into smaller units with shared facilities that are occupied by three of more people.

The 25 November 2025 report to councillors recommended the additional licensing scheme includes all section 257 HMOs, and the report was agreed.

Whilst the scheme designation includes all section 257 HMOs, the accompanying public notice and email distributed to stakeholders says the scheme only includes section 257 HMOs where less than half of the flats are owner-occupied. London Property Licensing has raised this issue with the council and requested a response.

The lack of an online application system does not make the application process easier. The council currently has a non-editable PDF application form which landlords and agents can download from the council’s website. Without PDF editing software, the form will need to be printed out and completed by hand before being submitted.

Our free guide containing more information about property licensing and HMO planning restrictions in Sutton is available here.