London Borough of Enfield

You do not need a licence if you rent your property to a single family as Enfield Council do not operate a selective licensing scheme.

If you rent your property as a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO), the answer is a bit more complicated. Whilst Enfield Council do not operate an additional licensing scheme, some HMOs do need a licence under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme that applies throughout England and Wales.

You will need an HMO licence if your property:

• Is three or more storeys high (a storey includes a basement, loft conversion and any storey comprising business premises); and
• Contains five or more people in two or more households; and
• Contains shared facilities such as a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.  

Following a recent government announcement, the mandatory HMO licensing criteria will change on 1 October 2018, bringing thousands more properties within the scope of licensing. The restriction to properties that are three or more storeys in height is being removed.

As such, if your property is occupied by five or more people who are not all related and share facilities, it is highly likely you will need to apply for a licence. It is also important that you submit your application before 1 October 2018 to avoid the risk of enforcement action. You can sign up to our free newsletter for all the latest news.   

Enfield Council charges a standard HMO licence fee of £130 per let (£120 in 2016/17) within a property. So, the fee is £650 for a three storey shared house with five single person lettings.

The council do not advertise any discounts for accredited landlords, which we think is a shame.

The fees we have listed were correct as of June 2018 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 an application form from the council’s website complete it by hand and post it back to them.

Alternatively, you can contact the council and ask them to send you an application pack in the post.

In addition to completing the application form, Enfield Council ask you to provide various supporting information such as an electrical certificate, gas safety certificate and fire alarm / emergency lighting test certificates (if any). So make sure you’ve got all your paperwork ready.

If you need assistance with your licence application, we can help you. We offer a unique hassle-free, one-stop-shop service to handle your licence application from start to finish and all for a fixed fee. As part of the service, we carry out an inspection of your property and provide expert advice on compliance. You can find out more about our licence application handling service here.  

We couldn’t find any HMO standards listed on the Enfield Council’s website and so we made some further enquiries.

In February 2015, Enfield Council told us they have adopted standards for licensed HMOs and have provided us with a copy, which you can download from the ‘More Information’ box on the right of this page. We try and make life a bit easier for you!

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

The government have announced that new minimum bedroom sizes for licensed HMOs will be introduced on 1 October 2018 – 4.64m2 for a child under 10 years old, 6.51m2 for one person over 10 years old and 10.22m2 for two people over 10 years old. The council will still be able to ask for larger minimum sizes. The standards will apply throughout England to HMOs licensed under a mandatory HMO or additional licensing scheme.

As of January 2015, Enfield Council had licensed 54 HMOs under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme. By April 2016, the number had risen to 75, by May 2017 it was 124 and by June 2018, the number had risen to 154 property, although the public register says some of these applications are still being processed.

The Council keeps a public register of licensed HMOs that is regularly updated and can be viewed online. Select ‘HMO Licence (Mandatory)’ from the drop down menu and search all, or select the name or street you are interested in. It’s quite a good system.

We don’t really know. In February 2015, Enfield Council told us they had no information about the number of licensable HMOs operating without a licence. 

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.

From April 2017 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. We can help you get your property licensed! (find out more). 

Enfield Council told us they had taken no housing prosecutions over the five years from April 2011 to March 2016, which puts them at the bottom of the league table when compared to other London Boroughs. 

Enfield Council had not obtained any Rent Repayment Orders from the landlords of unlicensed HMOs over the five years from April 2011 to March 2016. 

For all the latest information, you can search for housing prosecutions on the Mayor of London’s ‘Rogue landlord and agent checker’, available here.

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

Whilst we don’t have any figures for the NLA or RLA schemes, 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 543 accredited landlords in Enfield, which was slightly above average when compared to all London boroughs.

By January 2018, that figure had increased to 595, which is now 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! 

Well, the council have certainly been considering the introduction of new property licensing schemes although it’s a long story so we’ll try and keep it brief. On 9 April 2014, Enfield Council’s Cabinet made a decision to implement borough wide selective and additional licensing schemes (read here). The schemes were due to come into force on 1 April 2015 and last for five years.

A local landlord, Mr Constantinos Regas, took the Council to Judicial Review to try and get the licensing schemes overturned. Enfield Council’s Cabinet met to discuss the matter again on 12 November 2014 (read here). They further ratified their decision to implement a borough wide additional HMO licensing scheme.

The Judicial Review was heard in the High Court on 26 November 2014. On 11 December 2014, His Honour Judge McKenna handed down the judgement (read here). In summary, it was held that the Enfield additional and selective licensing schemes were not lawfully designated and so both licensing schemes were cancelled. The reason was linked to the consultation arrangements. 

Whilst the High Court refused permission for Enfield Council to appeal the decision, the council petitioned the Court of Appeal direct as they wanted to challenge the judgement. On 9 July 2015, the Council announced that they had been granted permission to appeal, but had decided not to do so. As a result, the Judicial Review decision stands and both licensing schemes have been cancelled.

So what happens next? Well, at that time Enfield Council’s Cabinet member, Cllr Oykener asked officers to prepare a further report on how best to improve the quality of the private rented sector in Enfield.

In October 2016, the council told us they were re-evaluating the evidence for additional and selective licensing in the borough, but we've heard nothing further since. It has all gone a bit quiet.

There is clearly a lot going on at Enfield Council so we will monitor the situation closely. To keep up to date will 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 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 22 October 2012, Enfield 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. The HMO Article 4 Direction came into force on 22 October 2013 and you can download a copy from the ‘More Information’ box on the right of this page.

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.

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
Private Sector Housing Standards Team

Enfield Council
PO Box 57

Civic Centre

Enfield EN1 3XH



Email: hmolicensing@enfield.gov.uk
Tel:     020 8379 1000
Website: www.enfield.gov.uk