Additional HMO licensing in Luton

Common questions

What the designation says

Luton operates a borough-wide additional licensing scheme. The designation was made on 25 October 2023 and came into force on 5 February 2024, running for five years to 4 February 2029. It applies to small houses in multiple occupation let to three or four people, which brings smaller shared homes within licensing below the five-occupant threshold of the national mandatory regime. Mandatory HMO licensing continues to apply separately wherever a property is let to five or more people. Fees are charged in two parts, with Part A covering non-refundable application processing and the remainder covering monitoring and enforcement. Because Luton also runs selective licensing in the town centre and Park Town, a landlord there should establish which scheme catches a given property before applying: a shared house of three or four occupants falls under additional licensing anywhere in the borough, while a single-household let needs a selective licence only inside the designated areas.

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 £40,000 per offence and a rent repayment order of up to two years' rent. Both maxima apply to conduct on or after 1 May 2026; before that date they were £30,000 and twelve months. Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026 and possession now runs through the amended section 8 grounds. Mandatory HMO licensing applies separately and everywhere, wherever a property is let to five or more people forming two or more households.

Luton's own licensing page →