Selective licensing in Barnet

What the designation says

Barnet operates selective licensing in designated wards rather than borough-wide, introduced in phases. Phase 1 was approved for Burnt Oak, Colindale North and Colindale South, excluding certain regeneration areas, with the designation signed and the scheme coming into force three months later. Phase 2 extends the scheme to Childs Hill, Cricklewood, Edgware, Edgwarebury, Finchley Church End, Golders Green, Hendon, Mill Hill, West Finchley and West Hendon. Selective licensing covers privately rented properties that are not caught by the mandatory or additional HMO schemes, which in practice means an ordinary flat or a house let to a single household. Because the scheme is phased and ward-based, and the excluded regeneration areas cut across ward boundaries, a landlord should check a specific address against the council's published designation rather than assume from the ward name alone. Letting an unlicensed property inside a designated area is a criminal offence carrying a civil penalty of up to £30,000 or prosecution, and exposes the landlord to a rent repayment order.

What this means for a landlord

A licence must be in place before the property is let, not applied for afterwards. Operating unlicensed in a designated area is a criminal offence: a civil penalty of up to £30,000 per offence, a rent repayment order of up to twelve months' rent, and a section 21 notice that cannot be served while the property is unlicensed. Mandatory HMO licensing applies separately and everywhere, wherever a property is let to five or more people forming two or more households.

Barnet's own licensing page →