Hackney Council’s additional and selective licensing scheme have ended

Friday, October 6th, 2023 - London Property Licensing

The additional and selective landlord licensing schemes implemented in Hackney have ended after five years.

The council had operated a borough wide additional licensing scheme, combined with a selective licensing scheme covering the council wards of Brownswood, Cazenove and Stoke Newington.

In a somewhat chaotic end to the licensing schemes, the council published a short message on their website saying both schemes would end on 1 October 2023 and that all licence applications would be processed before the end of the scheme.

After being contacted by London Property Licensing, a council officer replied to acknowledge they had published the wrong date. They confirmed both schemes had already ended on 30 September 2023.

In a surprise further development, we were told all applications submitted before the end date of the licensing schemes will be honoured, and their respective start date for their licence will be from the date of the final licence being issued.

Having queried this further, we were told applications submitted for our clients would still be processed and will run for five years from the date the licence is issued. A similar message on the council’s website advises all applications received before the schemes ended will be processed.

Richard Tacagni, MD, London Property Licensing commented:

“I would urge the council to think carefully before approving additional and selective licences after the end date of the licensing scheme. They have no power to grant licences under licensing schemes that no longer exist. They also need to decide what happens to application fees paid for licence applications they did not process before the schemes ended.”  

London Property Licensing still has some Hackney licence applications submitted over four years ago that are waiting to be processed.

To date, there is no indication whether Hackney Council intends to implement replacement licensing schemes. There has been no public consultation and so any new schemes are unlikely to be implement before mid-2024. 

Hackney Council was invited to provide a press statement but did not respond by the time of publication. Any further information from the council will be shared in due course.

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

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