Additional HMO licensing in Wandsworth

What the designation says

Wandsworth operates a borough-wide additional HMO licensing scheme. It applies to small shared houses occupied by residents from three or more households who share a kitchen or a bathroom and which are not already covered by the national mandatory HMO scheme, so it brings smaller house shares into licensing below the five-occupant mandatory threshold. The fee is £1,450 per property and a licence normally runs for five years. The early-bird discount for this scheme closed on 31 December 2025. Mandatory HMO licensing continues to apply separately wherever a property is let to five or more people forming two or more households. Because Wandsworth also runs selective licensing in parts of the borough, a landlord should establish which of the three schemes catches a given property before applying: a single family or two sharers falls under selective, three or more households under additional or mandatory.

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.

Wandsworth's own licensing page →