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
There is currently one property licensing scheme operating in Wandsworth. We will help you choose the right licence for your property:
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.
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 been lifted.
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.
You can read our free guide to mandatory HMO licensing to find out more (here).
In Wandsworth, the HMO licence application fee is paid in two instalments with the cost dependent on the number of bedrooms (based on ‘units of accommodation’ or households).
The fee for a five bedroom property is £1,716, increasing up to £1,991 for a property with 10 or more bedrooms. The same fee applies to licence renewals.
There is no discount for accredited landlords, which we think is a shame.
The fees we have listed were correct as of October 2024 but could be subject to change in the future. You can view the fees in full on the council’s website.
In Wandsworth, you need to download a licence application form from 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, 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.
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.
In May 2019, Wandsworth Council told us they estimate there are 850 Houses in Multiple Occupation that need to be licensed under the mandatory HMO licensing scheme.
If you are a landlord operating illegally without a licence, you need to apply now to minimise the compliance risk.
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 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 there were 1,379 accredited landlords which is slightly 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!
Yes, Wandsworth Council recently consulting on plans to implement their first additional and selective licensing schemes.Â
The proposal is to implement a borough wide additional licensing scheme covering small shared houses that do not fall under the national mandatory HMO licensing scheme.
The proposal also includes a selective licensing scheme covering all other private rented properties in seven council wards, to be introduced in two phases. Phase 1 would be Furzedown, South Balham, Tooting Bec and Tooting Broadway council wards. Phase 2 would be East Putney, West Putney and Northcote council wards.
The consultation took place from 22 July to 14 October 2024 and you can find more information on the council’s website. Â
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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.
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
Wandsworth Council
Town Hall
Wandsworth High Street
London SW18 2PU
Email: privatehousing@merton.gov.uk
Tel: 020 8545 3025
Website: www.wandsworth.gov.uk
Latest News
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Additional and selective licensing consultation underway in WandsworthÂ
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Wandsworth Council to revisit plans to license properties in the private rented sector
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Tooting rent to rent landlord faces prison sentence if he breaches banning order
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South London letting agent is expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme after it failed to pay award
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Illegally evicting tenant results in 3 month curfew and fine for Battersea landlord
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Wandsworth Council reject proposals for landlord licensing scheme
Consultations
Schemes
There are currently no new licensing schemes we are aware of that are being introduced in the London Borough of Wandsworth