London Borough of Wandsworth

If you need help understanding the property licensing rules in Wandsworth 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

Do I need a licence to rent out my property?

There are three property licensing scheme operating in Wandsworth. We will help you choose the right licence for your property:

1. Mandatory HMO licence

In Wandsworth 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 makes the licensing scheme more complicated.

Read our free guide to mandatory HMO licensing to find out more (here).

2. Additional licence

In Wandsworth you 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 started on 1 July 2025, continues for five years and applies borough wide. You can view a copy of the public notice in the ‘At a Glance’ box on the top right of this page.

The council told us they 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).

2. Selective licence

In Wandsworth you need a selective licence if your property is occupied by a single household or two unrelated sharers in the Furzedown, South Balham, Tooting Bec and Tooting Broadway council wards.

The selective licensing scheme started on 1 July 2025, continues for five years and applies borough wide. You can view a copy of the public notice in the ‘At a Glance’ box on the top right of this page.

You can use the postcode checker on the council’s website to check which ward your property is in.

Read our free guide to selective licensing to find out more (here).

How much does a licence cost?

It depends on the type of licence you are applying for.

Mandatory HMO licence

In Wandsworth, the HMO licence application fee for a five bedroom property is £1,759, increasing up to £2,039 for a property with 10 or more bedrooms. The same fee applies to licence renewals. There is no discount for accredited landlords.

Additional licence

In Wandsworth, the additional licence application fee is £1,450 per property, paid in two instalments (Part A £870, Part B £580).

Selective licence

In Wandsworth, the selective licence application fee is £850 per property, payable in two instalments (Part A £510, Part B £340).

The council are offering various fee discounts including a multiple dwelling discount, an energy efficiency discount, a gold standard discount and an accreditation discount.

The fees we have listed were correct as of July 2025 but could be subject to change in the future. You can view the licensing fees on the council’s website.

How do I apply for a licence?

You need to set up an account on Wandsworth Council’s website to prepare and submit your mandatory HMO, additional or selective licence application.

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.

Are there any standards I need to comply with?

Wandsworth 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, ventilation and room sizes.

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 will still be able to ask for larger minimum sizes. These new minimum sizes apply throughout England to HMOs licensed under a mandatory HMO or additional licensing scheme.

How many properties has the Council licensed?

In July 2024, Wandsworth Council’s public register of licensed HMOs listed 598 properties.

Every council must have a public register of licensed HMOs and Wandsworth’s register can be viewed on the council’s website.

Are there lots of unlicensed properties still out there?

In June 2025, Wandsworth Council told us they estimate 2,520 properties will require an additional licence and 7,154 properties will require a selective licence. In May 2019, the council estimated 850 Houses in Multiple Occupation required a mandatory HMO licence.

If you are a landlord and your property is not correctly licensed, it is vital that you apply now to achieve compliance.

What happens if I don’t get 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.

Does the Council take much housing enforcement action?

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.

How many accredited landlords are there?

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 648 accredited landlords in Wandsworth, which was the 5th highest out of all London boroughs.

January 2018: 809 accredited landlords
January 2019: 818 accredited landlords
January 2020: 866 accredited landlords
January 2021: 924 accredited landlords
January 2022: 1,109 accredited landlords
January 2023: 1,279 accredited landlords
January 2024: 1,379 accredited landlords

January 2025 there were 1,444 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!

Is the Council planning to introduce any new licensing schemes?

Wandsworth Council consulted on plans to implement their first additional and selective licensing schemes from 22 July to 14 October 2024 and you can find more information on the council’s website.

At a meeting of the Council’s Executive on 3 February 2025, a decision was made to implement a borough wide additional licensing scheme and a selective licensing scheme covering all other private rented properties in four council wards: Furzedown, South Balham, Tooting Bec and Tooting Broadway (read here). The additional and selective licensing schemes came into force on 1 July 2025.

Do I need planning permission for my HMO?

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 July 2024 we checked Wandsworth Council’s website and could find no mention of an HMO Article 4 Direction.

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.

You can find further information about Article 4 Directions 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.

Can you help me find the goods and services I need?

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.