Greenwich Council’s new additional licensing scheme starts on 1 January 2024

Tuesday, December 19th, 2023 - Greenwich Council

A borough wide additional licensing scheme covering all Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) comes into force in the Royal Borough of Greenwich on 1 January 2024.

The council’s previous additional licensing scheme ended on 30 September 2022. A public consultation on plans for a replacement scheme took place from 13 January to 24 March 2023.

The new additional licensing scheme was approved at a Cabinet meeting on 20 September 2023 and comes into force 1 January 2024, with licence applications being accepted from that date. 

According to Greenwich Council, 60% of residents who took part in the consultation supported the proposed scheme.  

Councillor Ann-Marie Cousins, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Enforcement, Greenwich Council said:

“The renewal of this additional HMO licensing scheme is great news for the borough and great news for private tenants. Under the scheme, we can continue to ensure homes in the borough are safe, well-managed and well-maintained, as set out in our corporate plan, Our Greenwich. We’ll also be able to continue our work tackling rogue landlords who own or rent homes in multiple occupation without a licence.”  

During the previous borough-wide additional licensing scheme which ran from 2017 until September 2022, good progress was made in improving HMO standards across the borough. However, a significant number of smaller HMOs remain unlicensed.   

The additional scheme will mean that landlords of smaller, three or four person HMOs in Royal Greenwich need to ensure they are fully licenced and provide decent, well-maintained homes that meet the needs of their tenants.     

More information about the council’s private rented property licensing can be found on the council’s website.

London Property Licensing has published information to help landlords and agents understand the additional licensing application process.

Our free guide containing more information about property licensing and HMO planning restrictions in the Royal Borough of Greenwich is available here.

For all the latest news and events, you can sign up for the free London Property Licensing newsletter here.