London Borough of Islington

You do not need a licence if you rent your property to a single family as Islington Council do not operate a selective licensing scheme.

If you rent out your property as a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) the answer is a bit more complicated. Islington Council did have an additional licensing scheme which ended on 31 August 2020. There is still the mandatory HMO licensing scheme that applies throughout England.

The council recently approved new additional and selective licensing schemes although they have been placed on hold due to the COVID19 pandemic. We will update our website once the start date has been confirmed. You can sign up to our free newsletter for all the latest news (here).

To help you decide if you need a licence we have outlined the three 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:

• 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).  

2. Additional licensing 

The additional licensing scheme started on 1 September 2015 and ended on 31 August 2020. It applied to all HMOs in Caledonian Road and Holloway Road i.e. houses or flats occupied by three or more people who are not all members of the same household or family.

The council included ‘section 257 HMOs’ in 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.

You can view a copy of the scheme designation in the ‘More Information’ box of the right hand side of this page. 

A new additional licensing scheme was approved by the council’s Executive meeting on 19 March 2020, although the scheme has been placed on hold due to the COVID19 pandemic. The council will give 3 months notice before the scheme is introduced.

When the scheme comes into force, it will extend licensing to all HMOs borough wide i.e. houses or flats occupied by three or more people who are not all members of the same household or family. The council are including ‘section 257 HMOs’ in the new borough wide scheme, but only where all the flats are privately rented.

3. Selective licensing

A new selective licensing scheme was approved by the council’s Executive meeting on 19 March 2020, although the scheme has been placed on hold due to the COVID19 pandemic. The council will give 3 months notice before the scheme is introduced.

When the licensing scheme comes into force, you will need a selective licence if your property (house or flat) is let out to a single person, couple or single household and is in the Finsbury Park ward.

If you rent a property to a single household in other parts of the borough, the selective licensing scheme will not apply.

Islington Council charges a standard HMO licence fee of £280 per letting (was £270 in 2017/18, £260 in 2015/16), so that would be £1,400 for a three storey shared house with five single person lettings.

We understand accredited landlords can get a licence fee discount of £41 per letting, and a £104 discount for each section 257 HMO, which we think is a good idea.

We will add the new additiional and selective licensing fees when the schemes are launched.

The fees are correct as of September 2020, but could be subject to change in the future. You can check the fees on the council’s website. 

A new online application system has recently been introduced and can be accessed 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 a 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, Islington Council’s HMO standards can be downloaded from the council’s website (you will need to scroll to the bottom of the page).

The standards cover a range of issues such as kitchen, bathroom and toilet facilities, fire precautions, heating, lighting, ventilation and room sizes.

Whilst these are the council’s guidelines for all licensed HMOs, the council also expect these standards to be complied with in all HMOs in order to promote good quality accommodation and fairer market conditions. They told us they will look to use other legal provisions to bring non-licensable HMOs up to this same standard, wherever possible.

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 February 2015, Islington Council had licensed 312 HMOs under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme, although a year later, that figure has risen to 360, an increase of 48.

In June 2017, we found there were 283 properties licensed under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme and 207 properties licensed under the additional licensing scheme.

In May 2019, we found there were 344 properties licensed under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme and 243 properties licensed under the additional licensing scheme.

The council keeps a public register of all licensed properties which is regularly updated. It was published on the council’s website but last time we checked, it seemed to have disappeared.

In May 2019, Islington Council told us that think there could be 566 properties that need licensing under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme and a further 542 HMOs that need licensing on Caledonian Road and Holloway Road under their additional licensing scheme.

Based on these figures, it seems there could be several hundred unlicensed HMOs in the borough. It you are one of those landlords, you need to act now to avoid a heavy financial penalty.

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.

Islington Council told us they took nine separate housing prosecutions over the three years from April 2011 to March 2014, plus a further six prosecutions in 2014/15 and six prosecutions in 2015/16. They do seem to be stepping up their enforcement activity.

Islington Council did not obtain any Rent Repayment Orders from the landlords of unlicensed HMOs over the five years from April 2011 to March 2016.

For all the latest information, you can search for housing prosecutions on the Mayor of London’s ‘Rogue landlord and agent checker’, available here.

There are landlord accreditation schemes operated by the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme, the National Landlords Association (NLA) and the Residential Landlords Association (RLA).  

Whilst we don’t have any figures for the NLA or RLA schemes, 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 635 accredited landlords in Islington, which placed them in the top quartile of all London boroughs.

By January 2018, there were 921 accredited landlords, by January 2019 there were 976 accredited landlords and by January 2020 there were 1,045 accredited landlords, which is well above 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! 

Yes, Islington Council consulted on plans for a borough wide additional licensing scheme and a selective licensing scheme for all other private rented properties in Finsbury Park. The consultation took place from 5 August to 3 November 2019.

A borough wide additional licensing scheme together with a selective licensing scheme in Finsbury Park ward was approved at the council’s Executive meeting on 19 March 2020 (here – see agenda item 706). The schemes were then placed on hold due to the COVID19 pandemic. The council have confirmed they will give 3 months notice before the schemes are introduced.

Previously, on 12 March 2015 the council’s executive approved an additional licensing scheme that started on 1 September 2015. That scheme applied to all HMOs in Caledonian Road and Holloway Road but ended on 31 August 2020. For more background information, you can read the Executive Report.

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 May 2020, we checked the council's website and found there is currently no HMO Article 4 Direction in force.

This means that you do not need planning permission for a change of use from a single-family property (use class C3) to a small HMO shared by three to six unrelated residents (use class C4), although the situation could change in the future.

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. You can find out more information on the council’s website. 

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: 

HMO Licensing Team
Islington Council
3rd Floor
222 Upper Street
London
N1 1XR

Email: property.licensing@Islington.gov.uk 
Tel:     020 7527 3083
Website: www.islington.gov.uk