Selective licensing in Peterborough

What the designation says

Peterborough operates a selective licensing scheme covering ten electoral wards: Bretton, Central, East, Fletton and Stanground, Fletton and Woodston, North, Orton Waterville, Park, Paston and Walton, and Stanground South. It came into force on 11 March 2024 and the designation runs to 10 March 2029. Within those wards a privately rented property meeting the scheme's criteria needs a licence regardless of how many people occupy it. The fee is £908, taken in two parts: £538 on application and £370 on grant. Landlords who already hold a selective licence for a property occupied by three or four people have had it passported across to the city-wide additional HMO scheme that launched on 26 January 2026, so there is no need to apply for both — the council contacts affected owners directly. Because only ten of the city's wards are designated, a landlord should check a specific address against the council's published boundary rather than assume from the postcode. Letting an unlicensed property inside a designated ward 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.

Peterborough's own licensing page →