London Borough of Hillingdon
If you need help understanding the property licensing rules in Hillingdon you have come to the right place! We are experts in housing regulation and have produced this free guide to help you understand the council’s property licensing schemes.
If you find that you need a licence for your rented property our support doesn’t end there. Our Landlord Suppliers Directory (view here) lists companies that offer a licence application handling service. You can also find companies offering a wide range of other goods and services to help you manage your property portfolio and achieve compliance.
Licensing Requirements
There is currently one property licensing scheme operating in Hillingdon. We will help you choose the right licence for your property:
1. Mandatory HMO licence
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:
- Shared houses and flats occupied by students and young professionals;
- Properties converted into bedsits with some shared facilities; and
- 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).
The council charge a standard application fee of £1,502 per property for new licence applications. The fee for licence renewals is the same. The fee is payable in two instalments.
Unfortunately, there is no discount for accredited landlords, which we think is a shame.
The fees we’ve listed were correct as of April 2024 but could be subject to change in the future. You can view the fees in full on the council’s website.
In Hillingdon, you can apply for an HMO licence online via the council’s website.
If you need assistance with your licence application, you can find companies offering a licence application handling service in our Landlord Suppliers Directory (here). Whilst we do handle some applications, we have limited capacity and specialise in more complex cases where we provide our clients with expert advice and assistance.
It is important to remember that submitting your licence application is only the start of the licence approval process. To help landlords understand what happens next, we have published a free guide here.
Yes, Hillingdon Council’s HMO standards can be viewed on the council’s website.
The standards cover a range of issues such as kitchen, bathroom and toilet facilities, fire precautions, heating, lighting and ventilation.
It is important to note that new absolute minimum bedroom sizes for licensed HMOs have been introduced for HMO licence applications approved on or after 1 October 2018:
- 4.64m2 for a child under 10 years old
- 6.51m2 for one person over 10 years old
- 10.22m2 for two people over 10 years old
The council can still ask for larger minimum sizes. These new minimum sizes apply throughout England to HMOs licensed under a mandatory HMO or additional licensing scheme.
In September 2023, there were 729 licensed HMOs listed in Hillingdon Council’s public register.
Hillingdon Council keeps a public register of all licensed properties that is regularly updated. The public register can be viewed on the council’s website and then click on ‘View the HMO register’.
In May 2019, the council told us they estimate there were 2,500 licensable HMOs in the borough, so there could be many HMOs operating illegally 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.
Alternatively, 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.
In London, most boroughs publish information about housing prosecutions and civil financial penalties on the Mayor of London’s ‘Rogue landlord and agent checker’. You can search the database by entering a property address, landlord / agent name or by selecting the relevant borough, available here.
There are landlord accreditation schemes operated by the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) and other organisations.
Whilst we don’t have any figures for the NRLA scheme, 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 423 accredited landlords in Hillingdon, which was below average when compared to all London boroughs.
January 2018: 467 accredited landlords
January 2019: 486 accredited landlords
January 2020: 539 accredited landlords
January 2021: 587 accredited landlords
January 2022: 726 accredited landlords
January 2023: 966 accredited landlords
By January 2024 there were 1,099 accredited landlords which is well 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!
We are not aware of plans to introduce new additional and/or selective licensing schemes in Hillingdon, although the situation could change in the future. For all the latest news, you are welcome to 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 will also need planning permission if you a splitting up a property into smaller self-contained units of accommodation.
For small HMOs, the rules are a bit more complicated. HMOs occupied and shared by between three and six people fall into planning use class C4 whereas single-family properties fall into planning use class C3.
In Hillingdon there is a HMO Article 4 Direction covering the Brunel and Uxbridge South council wards which came into force on 24 March 2013. It removes the permitted development rights to change a property from a single-family house (use class C3) to an HMO occupied by up to six people (use class C4) without planning permission.
From that date, even letting your property to three people who are not all related could require planning permission if it is within the Brunel or Uxbridge South Council Wards.
You can download a copy of the Article 4 Direction from the ‘At a Glance’ box in the top right of this page. Information is also available on the council’s website.
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 before you start a new HMO development.
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:
Private Sector Housing Team
Hillingdon Council
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
Middlesex UB8 1UW
Email: hmolicensing@hillingdon.gov.uk
Tel: 01895 556 666
Website: www.hillingdon.gov.uk
Latest News
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Hillingdon landlord loses appeal against civil financial penalty
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Hillingdon HMO landlords ordered to pay £27,000 after renting hazardous property ‘not fit for human habitation’
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Hayes landlord ordered to stop using storage building as ‘cramped’ living space
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Substantial rise in HMO licensing fees in Hillingdon
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Hillingdon landlord ordered to pay £142,000 for illegal flat conversion
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Hillingdon additional licensing scheme extended until 2020
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Hillingdon Council demolish rogue landlord’s ‘bed in shed’
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Hillingdon additional licensing scheme extended for another five years
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Unscrupulous landlord fined £11,000 following prosecution by Hillingdon Council
Consultations
There are currently no licensing consultations we are aware of in the London Borough of Hillingdon
Schemes
There are currently no new licensing schemes we are aware of that are being introduced in the London Borough of Hillingdon
