Statement from Additional and HMO Licensing on Coronavirus (COVID-19) | We are working hard to keep the disruption to a minimum, and have put the following measures in place that will hopefully help with this.
Additional Licensing requires houses in multiple occupations (HMO's) shared by 3 or more unrelated people who share facilities such as kitchens and bathrooms, to have a licence in a designated area. Purpose-built flats will be covered in this scheme.
The new Additional Licensing scheme area designation (map), applies from the 1 January 2019. You need to check if you now require a licence for the new scheme as the area designation has changed please see the designation map.
If you need to change your licensing details, you can apply for a variation on licence here.
It is highly unlikely that you will be granted planning permission for a change of use from C3 (family) to C4 or Sui Generis (HMO) in Nottingham.
If you apply for a HMO licence and the property has changed use from C3 (family) to C4 or Sui Generis (HMO) without planning permission, you may be granted a licence for only 12 months. This period of time will allow you the opportunity to put the planning affairs of your property in order by applying for Change of Use permission. Again, planning permission is highly unlikely to be granted. The full HMO licence fee will be payable and is non-refundable if only a 12 month licence is granted.
If you’re granted permission or win an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, we’ll vary the HMO licence to expire in 5 years after the duly made date of the original HMO licence application. You must apply to vary the licence eon your own initiative, if you forget then the licence will expire. If you’re refused permission or lose your appeal, the licence will be allowed to expire and you must take steps to ensure the property does not require a HMO licence. During this time it may be necessary to apply for a Temporary Exemption Notice whilst winding down the HMO business.
If you request to vary the licence when you’ve not applied for planning permission during those 12 months, planning permission has been refused, or your appeal to the Planning Inspectorate has been unsuccessful, we’ll generally refuse to vary the licence and allow it to expire at the 12 month mark. If you apply for a HMO licence after Planning Permission has been refused already, or all avenues of appeal have been exhausted, we’ll generally refuse the application outright; a 12 month licence will not be granted. The full HMO licence fee will be payable and is non-refundable if a licence is refused.
You can apply for a renewal of a licence on the same form.
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Licence Fees For Mandatory and Additional |
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Description |
Comments |
Fees |
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Standard |
· For non-accredited landlords · Application fee up to 9 bedrooms |
1st Payment £890
2nd Payment £440
Total £1330 |
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Less Compliant |
· For non-accredited landlords · Application fee up to 9 bedrooms |
1st Payment £890
2nd Payment £830
Total £1720 |
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Accredited |
· The proposed licence holder is accredited with the Nottingham Standard (Either Unipol or Dash) · Application fee up to 9 bedrooms |
1st Payment £615
2nd Payment £375
Total £990 |
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Extra fees will become payable during the licence application process if any of the criteria detailed in the table below are met.
These extra fees will be collected in addition to the 1st and 2nd part payment. The application will not be considered made until all extra fees have been paid with the 1st part payment or shall be payable on request.
Please note the fees in Table 2 are non-refundable.
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Extra Fees Payable |
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Description Comments Fees |
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Extra Bedrooms Fee |
When an HMO has 10 bedrooms or more, an extra fee is applicable per bedroom. Applicable in addition to the 1st part payment in Table 1 and shall be payable on request. |
£25 |
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Missed inspections |
Failure to attend an agreed inspection a charge shall be levied This fee shall be payable on request. |
£50 |
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Extra Correspondence |
Where there is a requirement to enter into extra correspondence over and above the standard licensing process. This fee shall be payable on request. |
£30 |
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Extra copy documentation |
Where a request is made for each duplicate/copy documents. The request will not be processed until this additional fee has been paid. This fee shall be payable on request. |
£30 |
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Paper Application Form Request |
Paper application forms will remain available on request, printed application forms will be printed and posted to a UK postal address a charge of £35 shall be required for each form.
Please note that the application form is available free of charge on the Council website for download and printing or complete online. This fee shall be payable on request. |
£35 |
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Paper Application Form Processing |
A charge of £65 shall be applied for each paper application submitted to cover the extra manual cost of processing. This fee shall be payable on request. |
£65 |
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Part 1
Housing Act 2004 |
Not all costs can be recovered from the licence fee.
Under Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004 (section 49) the Council may charge for relevant costs linked to enforcement work.
Please note that when an invoice is issued, this action becomes a local land charge registered against the property. This fee shall be payable on request. |
£350 |
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Please note that no fee payments made by Cheques or Bankers Cheques are accepted. |
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Applicants will be entitled to a refund of licence fee payments in the following situations:
Refunds will not be provided in the following situations:
The fees are not connected to the length of a licence. If a licence is no longer required and the licence holder must request a revocation to cancel the licence before it expires, the Council cannot give a refund for any unused time.
The Housing Act 2004 sets out that the requirement for a licensing fee and this is set by the Local Authority. The fee will be collected in two parts and the first part payment is required for an application to be considered as duly made*.
*duly made is the point in which we accept an application as being submitted with all the information that is legally required
The City Council may decide to issue the Licence for any amount of time, up to a maximum of five years.
The Housing Act sets out that the licensing fee is set by the Local Authority and that this fee is required for an application to be considered valid with all the information legally required.
The City Council may decide to issue the Licence for any amount of time, up to a maximum of five years.
Payment can be made by cheque (payable to Nottingham City Council) or over the telephone by debit or credit card. Please note that the City Council does not accept cash.
Payment can be made by cheque (payable to Nottingham City Council) or over the telephone by debit or credit card. Please note that the City Council does not
Only card payments will be taken via the online application system and will be required before the application is submitted to us.
The Council will consider whether:
The Council will use the information you provide in the application and may also inspect the property to make its assessment.
We will then either refuse or grant a licence. Licences will have certain standard conditions relating to the management of the property and may have other conditions requiring, for example, the installation of further amenities.
Flat and household information
Some flats are also covered under the Additional Licensing Scheme and some buildings with flats may require a licence or more than one licence.
(where there are 3 or more occupants from 2 or more households, see the definition for households above)
The whole building could require a licence
Some buildings can also require more than one licence.
If one (or more) of the flats are occupied as an HMO then this will need a licence (as mentioned directly above), however, the whole building may also need a licence if:
This is unless all of the flats within the building are licensed separately.
More information on Building Regulations can be found on the Government Website.
Households: a household can be one person or several people. A group of people that are related, or living as a couple or family are 1 household*.
*includes couples, same-sex couples and children including fostered and adopted and any other relatives.
Note: Where tenants claim to be related we expect landlords and/or managers to have taken out appropriate checks to be confident that they are related and the property is not being occupied as an HMO.
Examples:
Failure to apply for a licence
Landlords and agents who fail to apply for a licence face the risk of further enforcement action which could include a financial penalty of up to £30,000 or prosecution with an unlimited fine. In addition to this, a record of non-compliance with Housing Law may affect your ability to hold a licence.
In cases where a successful prosecution or multiple financial penalties are issued may result in a Banning Order against the guilty person, this would mean they are unable to hold a licence and may result in their properties being taken over by the Council.
Accreditation and further information about HMO licensing
Please click here to visit the DASH Decent and Safe Homes website for further information or the Legislation website Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 371. You can also contact the HMO Team within Environmental Health.
If you are the owner, manager or person in control of an HMO and are in any doubt whether it needs a Licence, please contact the HMO Team within Environmental Health on 0115 915 2000 (Options 5) or by e-mail at hmo@nottinghamcity.gov.uk for clarification.