You do not need a licence if you rent your property to a single family as Havering Council do not operate a selective licensing scheme. However, if you rent out a flat in a converted building, you should check the additional licensing scheme below as some buildings containing flats do need to be licensed.
If you rent your property as a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO), the answer is a bit more complicated. Havering Council implemented an additional licensing scheme on 1 March 2018 and there is also the mandatory HMO licensing scheme that applies throughout England.
To help you decide if you need a licence we’ve outlined the two HMO licensing schemes below:
1. Mandatory HMO licensing
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:
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Shared houses and flats occupied by students and young professionals;
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Properties converted into bedsits with some shared facilities; and
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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 licensing
The additional licensing scheme came into force on 1 March 2018 and continues until 28 February 2023, unless the council decide to implement a replacement scheme.
It applies to all HMOs in the council wards of Brooklands, Elm Park, Gooshays, Harold Wood, Havering Park, Heaton, Mawneys, Pettits, Rainham & Wennington, Romford Town, South Hornchurch and Squirrels Heath.
It includes all properties shared by three or more people who are not all related and share facilities. You can view the scheme designation in the ‘More Information’ box on the right of this webpage.
The Council have included ‘section 257 HMOs: certain converted blocks of flats’ in the scheme. These are properties that:
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have been converted into self-contained flats; and
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less than two thirds of the flats are owner occupied; and
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the conversion did not comply with the relevant Building Regulations in force at that time and still does not comply.
So, a building containing both owner-occupied and rented flats may need one licence for the whole building. This is a complex area of law and you may need further advice.