Landlord licensing in Bexley

Required for any HMO let to 5 or more people forming 2+ households who share facilities.

Bexley operates a selective licensing scheme covering Belvedere ward. It became operative on 13 January 2025 and expires on 12 January 2030, and the council began accepting applications on 5 November 2024. Within the designated ward every privately rented home needs a licence regardless of how many people occupy it, so an ordinary self-contained flat or a single-family house is caught as well as shared housing. A property that is an HMO let to fewer than five people is covered by this scheme rather than the mandatory regime where it sits inside the ward, and the council publishes a lookup tool so a landlord can check a specific address. The published fee is £350 plus £480, with a £50 reduction for landlords and agents who are accredited at the time of applying. Letting an unlicensed property in the designated area is a criminal offence: the council may prosecute or impose a civil penalty of up to £30,000, and on conviction the court may impose an unlimited fine. The rest of the borough is outside the designation and needs no selective licence.

Areas: Belvedere ward

Scheme runs until: 12 January 2030

Bexley does not operate an additional licensing scheme. Additional licensing would extend HMO licensing to smaller shared houses let to three or four people forming two or more households, and no such designation is in force anywhere in the borough. Smaller HMOs are therefore only caught where they fall inside the Belvedere ward selective licensing designation, which covers every privately rented home in that ward whatever its size. Elsewhere in Bexley only the national mandatory HMO regime applies: a licence is required where a property is let to five or more people forming two or more households who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. The published mandatory HMO fee is £350 plus £330 per letting, with a £50 reduction for accredited landlords and agents.