Selective licensing fees: what the cost really covers, and how to pay less

If you rent out a property in a designated ward, the selective licensing fees cost is one of the few compliance bills you cannot shop around for. There is no national price list, no cap, and no competitor to switch to — your council sets the number, publishes it in a fee schedule, and you pay it. That is precisely why it stings. But the fee is not a tax, and understanding the legal machinery behind it tells you where the negotiating room actually is.

How much will selective licensing cost me in my council area, and which councils in England are charging these fees?

Selective licensing fees are set locally by each council under section 87 of the Housing Act 2004, charged per property, and split into a non-refundable Part A on application plus a Part B on grant — published totals in the councils checked for this article range from roughly £600 (Hammersmith & Fulham) to £1,100 (Leeds, online rate), with Westminster at £995. There is no national list or cap, so the only figure that matters is the one on your own council's current fee schedule, checked below against 15+ named councils. Discounts for accreditation, strong EPC ratings and early application are common and routinely missed, and because a licence normally expires with the designation rather than five years after grant, applying late in a scheme can mean paying a full fee for a short licence. Failing to apply at all is far more expensive: from 1 May 2026 the maximum civil penalty for a licensing offence rose to £40,000.

The fee is not the expensive part. Not applying is.

What do selective licensing fees actually cost?

Selective licensing fees for landlords in England are set by each local housing authority individually, and the only figure that matters is the one in your own council's published schedule. Two real examples show the spread. Westminster City Council publishes a total selective licence fee of £995, split as £543 Part A and £452 Part B, for its scheme covering privately rented homes in 15 wards (Westminster City Council, licence fees and discounts). Hammersmith & Fulham publishes £597.50 for an additional HMO or selective licence, with an £80 reduction for members of an accredited landlord body (LBHF property licensing).

The fee is charged per property, not per landlord and not per portfolio. A landlord with four terraces in a designated area pays four fees. There is no bulk discount as of right, although some councils offer one for multiple leaseholds within the same freehold block.

What does the fee actually buy, and does it cover the whole property or just one unit?

The fee buys two separate things at two separate points, and it is charged per self-contained property, not per room or per unit within it. Part A, paid on application, covers the council's cost of processing, validating and determining that application — it is generally charged whether or not the application succeeds. Part B, paid only once the council decides to grant the licence, covers the cost of administering, managing and enforcing the scheme for the rest of the designation. A renewal, where the designation itself is renewed rather than simply continuing, is normally treated as a fresh application and charged the same two-part fee again — it is not a discounted "returning applicant" rate at most councils. Several councils discount accredited landlords: Westminster takes 10% off the total fee for accreditation, and Hammersmith & Fulham takes £80 off for membership of an accredited landlord body or £50 for signing its rental charter (one discount per licence, not both).

Selective licensing fees compared across English councils

Fees vary far more than most landlords expect, because each council sets its own figure to reflect its own scheme's costs. The table below is a snapshot to show the spread — always verify the current figure on your own council's website before budgeting.

The pattern to notice: none of these figures are interchangeable, and a fee quoted for one London borough tells you nothing reliable about a fee in Leeds or Manchester. Several rows above are marked "check council schedule" deliberately — this article will not print a number for your council that might be stale by the time you read it, and neither should you trust a number printed anywhere else. If you also own a property outside England, the rules and figures are different again — see our Edinburgh short-term and licensing guide for how Scotland's separate licensing regime compares.

Why is the fee split into Part A and Part B?

The two-part fee is not council bureaucracy for its own sake — it is the direct result of case law. Following R (Hemming) v Westminster City Council and R (Gaskin) v Richmond upon Thames LBC, the Local Government Association's guidance on locally set licensing fees confirms that charging an application fee plus a later fee to successful applicants is permissible, whereas a single up-front fee covering all costs is not (LGA guidance on locally set licensing fees). Councils therefore have to separate the cost of processing your application from the cost of running and policing the scheme.

The practical consequence for landlords is blunt: submitting a speculative or incomplete application costs real money. If you apply for a property that turns out not to be licensable, or your application is rejected because the paperwork is wrong, Westminster's published terms state the Part A payment is not refunded. Get the property's licensable status confirmed with the council in writing first.

Can a council legally use licensing fees as a cash grab?

This is the question landlords actually want answered, and the honest reply is: the law constrains what the fee can recover, but it does not constrain how efficiently the council spends it. Section 87(7) of the Housing Act 2004 sets out what a local housing authority may take into account when fixing fees.

That is a cost-recovery power, not a revenue-raising one. In practice, this means the fee can legally cover processing applications, inspecting properties, managing the register and taking enforcement action against non-compliant landlords in the designated area. It cannot legally be set to raise general council revenue, subsidise unrelated council services, or recover costs that have nothing to do with running Part 3 and Part 4 functions. If a council's fee schedule includes costs outside that scope, that is the basis on which a scheme can be challenged. The LGA's guidance also records that where fees produce a surplus, both Hemming v Westminster and Cummings v Cardiff require that surplus to be used to reduce fees charged in the following year. So a scheme that over-recovers should, in principle, get cheaper.

The useful takeaway: if you think your council's fee is indefensible, the document to read is not the invoice but the fee-setting report that went to cabinet, and the consultation that preceded the designation. Councils are expected to publish the outcome of their statutory scheme reviews under section 84(3) on their website (MHCLG selective licensing guidance for local authorities). That is where the cost assumptions live, and it is the material any landlord group challenging a scheme will work from.

For the separate question of what a council can charge you if you get caught without a licence, rather than what it charges for applying for one, see our guide to landlord fines and civil penalties: what councils can charge.

How do I check if my area has selective licensing?

Before any of the figures above matter, you need to know whether your specific address is actually inside a designated area — designations are drawn ward by ward, sometimes street by street, so 'my council has a scheme' is not the same as 'my property needs a licence'.

1. Search '[your council name] selective licensing' on the council's own website. Avoid third-party summaries — designations change and only the council's current page is authoritative.
2. Find the designation map or ward list. Most councils publish an interactive map or a list of eligible postcodes/streets alongside the scheme's start and end dates.
3. Enter your exact address, not just the postcode area. Selective licensing boundaries frequently run down the middle of a street, so a neighbouring address can fall outside the scheme.
4. Email or call the council's private sector housing team for written confirmation. This written confirmation is your evidence that you either do or don't need to apply, and it protects you if the map is ambiguous.
5. Check again before every purchase and every scheme renewal. New designations are being added throughout 2026, and an area that wasn't licensable last year may be now.

How do I check exactly what my council charges before I apply?

The fastest reliable route is the council's own fees page, not a search engine summary or a forum thread. Go to the council's website, search within that site for "selective licensing fees" or "private rented property licensing", and look for a page or downloadable fee schedule showing the current total, the Part A/Part B split, any discounts, and the designation's start and end dates — the examples cited throughout this article (Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham, Leeds) show what that page typically looks like. If the council's page only gives a headline figure, phone or email its private sector housing team and ask for the current schedule and discount criteria in writing, so you have evidence of what you were told if the fee changes before you apply.

For the wider picture of which licensing regime applies to which property type, our HMO and selective licensing pillar is the place to start.

Are selective licensing fees tax-deductible?

Most landlords treat a statutory selective licence fee as a running cost of the property business rather than a capital cost, because it is paid to continue letting an existing property rather than to acquire or improve it. HMRC's Property Income Manual requires expenses to be incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the property business to be allowable (HMRC Property Income Manual, PIM2130). Whether a fee covering a five-year designation should be deducted in the year it's paid or spread across the licence period is exactly the kind of timing question worth checking with your accountant, particularly if it affects which tax year you fall into. Our landlord tax guide to rental income covers the wider expenses picture in more depth.

What does a five-year licence really cost? A worked example

Say a landlord owns three 2-bed terraces in a ward that has just been designated, and the council's published selective licence fee is £800 per property (£450 Part A, £350 Part B) for a five-year scheme. Those are illustrative figures — use your own council's.

• On application day: 3 × £450 = £1,350, payable immediately and non-refundable.
• On grant: 3 × £350 = £1,050.
• Total across the designation: £2,400, or £480 a year, or roughly £13 per property per month.

Annualising is the fair way to look at it, and it makes the number less frightening — at roughly £13 per property per month, the licence fee typically sits well below the annual cost of a gas safety certificate, an EICR and an EPC combined, so it's worth budgeting alongside those rather than treating it as a one-off shock. But here is the trap that annualising hides.

On tax, most landlords treat a statutory licence fee as a running cost of the property business — expenses must be incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the property business to be allowable (HMRC Property Income Manual, PIM2130). Whether a single fee covering a five-year period should be deducted in one go or spread is exactly the sort of question worth thirty minutes of your accountant's time, particularly if you are close to a higher-rate threshold. Our landlord tax guide to rental income covers the wider expenses picture.

What discounts can landlords claim on selective licensing fees?

Discounts are the one genuinely controllable part of the bill, and they are the most commonly missed. Westminster City Council publishes reductions of 10% of the total fee for accredited landlords, 20% of Part B for a property with an EPC rating of B or above, 10% of Part B for an EPC C, and £125 for multiple leaseholds within the same freehold. Hammersmith & Fulham offers £80 for accredited landlord body membership or £50 for signing its rental charter, but only one discount per licence.

Three patterns worth knowing:

1. Accreditation usually pays for itself. If a council offers 10% off a £995 fee across three properties, that is roughly £300 — more than most accreditation memberships cost.
2. EPC-linked discounts are becoming common. If you are already planning improvement work ahead of the minimum energy efficiency deadlines, sequencing the works before the licence application can pay twice. See our guide to EPC rating requirements for rental property in 2026.
3. Early-bird windows close. Several councils apply reduced fees for a limited period after a scheme starts, and some add a surcharge to late applications. The discount is a deadline, not a permanent feature.

What happens if you don't apply for a selective licence?

Operating a licensable property without a licence is an offence under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004 (see Part 3, Housing Act 2004). A council can prosecute — with an unlimited fine on conviction — or impose a civil penalty as an alternative. Under MHCLG's statutory guidance, the statutory instrument raising the maximum financial penalty under section 249A of the Housing Act 2004 from £30,000 to £40,000 came into force on 1 May 2026, alongside the Renters' Rights Act provisions (Civil penalties under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and other housing legislation).

Two further points landlords underestimate. First, penalties are generally imposed per property and per offence, so a portfolio in a designated area multiplies the exposure. Second, a licensing offence opens the door to a rent repayment order, which the Renters' Rights Act strengthened: a tenant (or the council, where rent was paid through universal credit or housing benefit) can apply to the First-tier Tribunal to recover up to 24 months' rent from a landlord who let an unlicensed property, for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026 (the cap was 12 months before that; Housing and Planning Act 2016, s.44), on top of any civil penalty or prosecution — our rent repayment orders guide sets out how those claims work in full. Stack a £40,000 civil penalty against a possible rent repayment order and a criminal record, and an £800 fee is cheap insurance by comparison.

Crucially, under the Act you commit no offence if a valid application has been duly made and remains effective. Applying — even at the last minute — is the thing that protects you, not holding the licence certificate in your hand.

Does the Renters' Rights Act database replace selective licensing?

No. The Private Rented Sector Database created by the Renters' Rights Act is a separate, national registration requirement that sits alongside local licensing, not instead of it. The Government's own guide confirms landlords will be required to pay to register on the database, with a stated intention that the fee be "proportionate and good value" (Guide to the Renters' Rights Act). A fee of £65 per property per year is proposed in draft regulations, and registration opens region by region from 15 December 2026 (GOV.UK). Landlords in a designated ward should therefore plan for both costs. Our guide to registering on the landlord property portal covers the database side, and the HMO and selective licensing pillar covers which scheme applies to which property.

How to keep your licensing costs down

1. Confirm licensable status in writing first. Ask the council to confirm whether your specific address is in the designated area and not exempt. Part A is generally non-refundable, so a wasted application is a wasted fee.
2. Read the full fee schedule, not the headline. Look for variation fees, change-of-licence-holder fees (which often require a fresh application), and any late-application surcharge.
3. Claim every discount before you submit. Accreditation, EPC band, rental charter, multiple leaseholds — most are applied at application, not retrospectively.
4. Apply the day the window opens. Early-bird reductions expire, and a duly made application is what stops the clock on the offence.
5. Diary the designation end date, not the grant date. Your licence almost certainly expires with the scheme. Put that date in the same place you keep your CP12 and EICR renewal dates.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article explains the general position in England as at 29 July 2026. Selective licensing fees, discounts and designations change frequently and vary by council — always confirm the current figures with your local housing authority before you apply, and take legal advice on anything fact-specific.