Additional HMO licensing in Hammersmith & Fulham

What the designation says

Hammersmith & Fulham operates a borough-wide Additional HMO Licensing Scheme that runs from 5 June 2022 until 4 June 2027 (a five-year designation renewed by Cabinet on 6 December 2021). The scheme covers all Houses in Multiple Occupation that fall outside the mandatory HMO licensing regime — that is, properties occupied by three or four people forming two or more households who share kitchen, bathroom or toilet facilities, including shared houses, shared flats and bedsit-style accommodation. The scheme also explicitly includes a sub-set of section 257 HMOs (buildings converted into self-contained flats where the conversion did not comply with the Building Regulations in force at the time and where less than two-thirds of the flats are owner-occupied), but only where none of the flats are owner-occupied, the building is not owned/managed collectively by the leaseholders, and the property is not in a designated selective licensing street. The application fee for an Additional HMO Licence is £742 per property (correct as of January 2026 per London Property Licensing; previously cited as £597.50 in 2024 sources). An £80 discount is available to landlords accredited via the National Residential Landlords Association or the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme; alternatively a £50 discount is available to landlords who sign up to the council's Landlord Rental Charter. Only one discount may be claimed per licence. The fee is split 50/50 across Part 1 (payable on application, non-refundable) and Part 2 (payable on issue of the draft licence). Mandatory HMO licences (5+ occupants in 2+ households) are charged separately at £1,627 for a five-bedroom HMO plus £170 for each additional bedroom, with a 25/75 Part 1/Part 2 split. Operating without the correct licence exposes landlords to prosecution with an unlimited fine, civil penalties up to £30,000 per offence without warning, Rent Repayment Orders of up to 12 months rent, and entry on the Mayor of London Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker. The council's most recent estimates put around 717 properties in scope of mandatory HMO licensing, around 5,859 in scope of additional licensing, and around 6,000 in scope of selective licensing across the borough. [RE-VERIFIED 4 Aug 2026: borough-wide designation confirmed as decided 6 December 2021, in force 5 June 2022, ceasing 4 June 2027. As at this date NO renewal, extension or replacement has been designated or published and no successor consultation has been announced. Expiry deliberately not rolled forward. RE-CHECK BEFORE 4 JUNE 2027.]

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.

Hammersmith & Fulham's own licensing page →