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 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 other goods and services to help you manage your property portfolio and achieve compliance.
Licensing Requirements
There is one property licensing scheme operating in Hillingdon and a second scheme starting on 24 August 2026. We will help you choose the right licence for your property:
1. Mandatory HMO licence
In Hillingdon, you 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.
The government have excluded 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 more complicated.
Read our free guide to mandatory HMO licensing to find out more (here).
2. Additional licence
In Hillingdon you will need an additional licence if your property is let as a House in Multiple Occupation that falls outside the remit of mandatory HMO licensing. It includes properties shared by three or four people who are not all related and share facilities.
The additional licensing scheme starts on 24 August 2026, continues for five years and applies borough wide. You can view the public notice in the ‘At a Glance’ box on the top right of this page.
Hillingdon Council have excluded ‘section 257 HMOs: certain converted blocks of flats’ from the scheme. These are properties that:
- have been converted into self-contained flats; and
- less than two thirds of the flats are owner occupied; and
- the conversion did not comply with the relevant Building Regulations in force at that time and still does not comply.
Read our free guide to additional licensing to find out more (here).
Mandatory HMO licence
Hillingdon Council charge a mandatory HMO licence application fee of £1,577 per property. The fee is payable in two instalments.
Additional licence
Hillingdon Council charge an additional licence application fee of £1,401 per property. The fee is payable in two instalments.
There is a 10% discount for accredited landlords and managing agents.
The fees we have listed were correct as of March 2026 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 via the council’s website.
Hillingdon Council will start to accept additional licence applications on 20 May 2026 so everyone has time to apply before the scheme comes into force on 24 August 2026.
If you need assistance with your licence application, you can find companies offering a licence application handling service in our Landlord Suppliers Directory (here).
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.
Hillingdon Council’s HMO guidance can be viewed on the council’s website.
The guidance covers a range of issues such as kitchen, bathroom and toilet facilities, fire precautions, heating, lighting, ventilation and room sizes.
The government have introduced absolute minimum bedroom sizes that apply to all licensed HMOs:
- 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 minimum sizes apply throughout England to HMOs licensed under a mandatory HMO or additional licensing scheme.
In March 2026, Hillingdon Council’s public register of licensed HMOs listed 522 properties.
Hillingdon Council’s public register of licensed HMOs can be viewed on the council’s website. You will need to click on the ‘View the HMO register’ link.
In February 2026 Hillingdon Council there were about 2,500 HMOs in the borough that will need licensing once the additional licensing scheme comes into force.
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
January 2024: 1,009 accredited landlords
January 2025: 1,092 accredited landlords
By January 2026 there were 1,150 accredited landlords which is 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!
On 24 July 2025, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet agreed to start gathering evidence to assess the option of introducing an additional HMO licensing scheme. You can find more information on the council’s website.
In November 2025 the council informed us they were consulting on plans for a borough wide additional licensing scheme. The consultation ended on 11 January 2026.
On 19 February 2026, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet approved a borough wide additional licensing scheme that comes into force on 24 August 2026 (read here – agenda item 5).
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You 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 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 an HMO Article 4 Direction covering the Brunel and Uxbridge South council wards came into force on 24 March 2013. A second HMO Article 4 Direction came into force on 11 December 2025. It applies borough wide and was implemented with immediate effect. It needs to be confirmed by 11 June 2026 to remain in force.
The HMO Article 4 Direction 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, letting your property as an HMO requires planning permission.
You can view the HMO Article 4 Directions in the ‘At a Glance’ box on the top right of this page. Information is also available on the council’s website.
This is 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 understand the challenges of being a private landlord and have created a Landlord Suppliers Directory to help you find 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, need a fire risk assessment or an EPC, 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 representation at First-tier Tribunal appeals, we help to ensure your property business remains compliant. If you need assistance, please drop us a line.
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 556 483
Website: www.hillingdon.gov.uk
Latest News
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Renting out illegally converted property results in massive fine for Hillingdon landlords
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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
