Additional Licensing

HMO Licensing

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.

Apply for a licence

Completing this form should take around 90 minutes.

To complete this form you will need.

Proof of right to reside (to live) in the UK
Gas Safety Certificate
Energy Performance Certificate
Evidence of landlord insurance for the property
Emergency Escape Lighting Test Certificate (if present)
Fire Alarm Test Certificate
Most recent portable appliance test (PAT) certificate
Building regulations completion certificate and planning consents (If applicable)
Evidence of relevant training (if undertaken)
Written Fire Safety Risk Assessment (If applicable)
Evidence of relevant training (if undertaken)

You will also need the following:

The proposed licence holders and proposed managers name, address and contact details
The name, address and contact details for any other person with an interest in the property, such as other owners, leaseholders, freeholders and mortgage companies
Confirmation and date of having served a notice of the application to the those with an interest in the property
Details in relation to the bedroom sizes, condition and safety of the property
Details in relation to how the property is managed
If accredited; the accreditation number of the licence holder/manager
You will also be required to attend Landlord training courses within 12 months of being issued the licence

Apply for a licence

A Variation on a Licence

If you need to change your licensing details, you can apply for a variation on licence here.

Variation on your licence

A Renewal of a licence

You can apply for a renewal of a licence on the same form.

Renewal of your licence

Fees

Table 1 Application Fee

Description		Comments	Fees
	Licence Fees For Mandatory and Additional
Standard		· For non-accredited landlords · Application fee up to 9 bedrooms	1st Payment £890 2nd Payment £440 Total £1330
Less Compliant		· For non-accredited landlords · Application fee up to 9 bedrooms	1st Payment £890 2nd Payment £830 Total £1720
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

Table 2 Extra Fees

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.

Extra Fee`s Payable

Description Comments Fees

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

Finder’s Fee

The finder’s fee is applied where the Council has to do extra administrative or investigation work to identify an unlicensed HMO and bring it into the licensing regime.

The application will not be processed until all fees have been paid in full.

Following the Council’s Enforcement Policy, enforcement action will likely be considered at this stage if there is evidence to prove operators have failed to licence a property operating as an HMO.

Applicable in addition to the 1st part payment in Table 1 and shall be payable on request.

£150

Fee for moving between mandatory and additional licencing (Part 2 of the Act) to selective licensing (Part 3 of the Act) or vice versa

This fee is to recover costs associated with the processing of a licence which will be issued under a different Part of the Housing Act 2004. Any new licence that is issued will run to the same expiry date of the earlier licence.

Please note – no fee will be payable for changes between mandatory and additional licensing, as these are under the same part of the Act (Part 2).

Applicable in addition to the 1st part payment in Table 1 and shall be payable on request.

25% of the appropriate application fee

Missed inspections

Failure to attend an agreed inspection a charge shall be levied

This fee shall be payable on request.

£50

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

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

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

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

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

Please note that no fee payments made by Cheques or Bankers Cheques are accepted.

Refunds Policy relating to Licence Fee

Applicants will be entitled to a refund of licence fee payments in the following situations:

on review of an application it is decided that the property does not need a licence at the time of application (for example, it falls under one of the exemptions);
a duplicate application is made;

Refunds will not be provided in the following situations:

the property needs to be licensed at the time of application;
the property is sold at any point during the application process;
the Council refuses the application and does not grant a licence;
the application is withdrawn at any point during the application process;
the Council revokes (takes away) the licence;
the Council varies the licence and reduces the amount of time it remains operationally valid;
the property is refused planning

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.

How to pay for a licence

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.

Requirements for a licence

The Council will consider whether:

the property is suitable for the number of persons requested
the proposed licence holder and manager are 'fit and proper persons'
the arrangements for managing the property are satisfactory as per the HMO Management Regulations

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

Flats

Some flats are also covered under the Additional Licensing Scheme and some buildings with flats may require a licence or more than one licence.

flats within a purpose built accommodation

(where there are 3 or more occupants from 2 or more households, see the definition for households above)

Converted blocks of flats

The whole building could require a licence

Buildings with self-contained flats

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:

it does not meet the 1991 Building Regulations (or those thereafter)
no more than two-thirds of the building is owner-occupied

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

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:

Three friends equal 3 households
A couple and a 1 friend equals 2 households
A couple living with their parent are 1 household
A couple, sharing with 3 strangers who are all friends but not related would be 4 households
2 friends would be 2 households because they are not related
2 families would be 2 households

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.

Please click here to view the Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 371 for the regulations on prescribed description HMO's
Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 373 - The Licensing of HMOs

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.