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How do I check the home I am renting is licensed?

Guide · about 12 min read · Covers the law in England as at November 2026 · Last checked on

You check it against your council's register of licences, and you can start by searching for that register on your council's website. Every local housing authority in England, usually your local council, must keep one: section 232 of the Housing Act 2004 requires the register to be kept and to be available for inspection by the public at the authority's head office at all reasonable times. Section 232(5) also requires the authority, on request and subject to any reasonable fee it sets, to supply you with a copy of the register, or of an extract from it, certified to be true.

This guide covers property licensing in England and is for general information only. It is not legal advice.

How can I check if my rented home has a licence?

The best way to check is to look at the official register held by your local housing authority, which is usually your local council. Section 232 of the Housing Act 2004 gives you the right to inspect this register in person at the council's main office at any reasonable time. While some councils publish their registers online, section 232(2) leaves the form of the register to the authority, and section 232(4) requires it to be available for inspection by the public at the authority's head office at all reasonable times rather than requiring it to be online.

If you cannot visit in person or want your own copy, section 232(5) requires the authority, on request and subject to any reasonable fee it determines, to supply you with a copy of the register, or of an extract from it, certified to be true. This is important, because section 232(6) states that a certified copy is "prima facie evidence" of the matters contained in it. This means it can be used as evidence in legal proceedings and is presumed to be correct unless proven otherwise.

What information does the public register contain?

It is your own authority's record of properties that hold a licence or are subject to other official notices, not a national one. Section 232(1) of the Housing Act 2004 requires the register to cover all licences granted by the authority under Part 2 (houses in multiple occupation) or Part 3 (selective licensing) which are in force, all temporary exemption notices served by the authority under section 62 or section 86 which are in force, and all management orders made by it under Chapter 1 or 2 of Part 4 which are in force. A temporary exemption notice is a short term permission not to hold a licence. Every limb is limited to what is in force, so a licence that has expired or been revoked need not appear, and a home missing from the register today is not evidence that it was unlicensed in the past.

The specific details that must be recorded for each entry are set out in regulations made by the government. This information provides a public record of properties that are regulated by the council, and for how long those licences or notices are in force.

Does my home need a licence?

It depends on whether your home is a house in multiple occupation that has to be licensed, or sits in an area where your council has made a selective licensing designation. This guide cannot answer it for your own home, because it turns on the statutory definitions and on the choices your local council has made. There are two main licensing schemes in England. The first is mandatory licensing for larger Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), which applies across the country. The second is selective licensing, which applies only when a council designates a specific area under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004. Some councils also have additional HMO licensing schemes.

Whether your home is an HMO or is in a selective licensing area is a technical question. The answer depends on the exact definitions in the Housing Act 2004 and on the specific designation made by your council. Applying those rules to your home is a judgement made in practice by the council when it enforces, and by a tribunal or a court if the point is disputed. This guide does not make it. If you are unsure, contact your local council or take independent advice. You can learn more about how property licensing works for the landlord in our separate guide.

What happens if a landlord rents out an unlicensed property?

Where a licence was required and is not held, the Act makes it a criminal offence, and who commits it is defined by statute rather than by who lives there. As an occupier you are not within those categories by virtue of occupying, and the section further down sets out what a missing licence means for your own tenancy. If you sublet, that is a different capacity and the categories below can reach you. For a house in multiple occupation required to be licensed under Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004, section 72(1), as substituted on 1 May 2026, provides that where the house is not licensed an offence is committed by any person having control of or managing it, by any person who is the landlord or licensor of an occupier, and by any superior landlord or licensor.

Section 95(1) does the same for a house required to be licensed under Part 3 but not licensed.

Both are subject to defences, so the absence of a licence does not by itself settle that an offence has been committed. Section 72(4A) to (4C) and section 95(3A) to (3C) carry the reasonable excuse defences. Separately, section 72(4) and section 95(3) provide a defence where a duly made application for a licence, or a duly given notification for a temporary exemption, was effective at the material time, and sections 72(8) to (9) and 95(7) to (8) say when one is effective. That is the practical limit on reading anything into a missing register entry, because an application in progress has no licence to appear there, so it is worth asking the council whether one is pending.

These offences can lead to prosecution and an unlimited fine, or instead a financial penalty imposed by the local housing authority under section 249A of the Housing Act 2004. That penalty is capped at £40,000 where the conduct amounting to the offence occurred on or after 1 May 2026, and at £30,000 where it occurred before that date, under regulations 2 and 4 of S.I. 2026/319. The authority must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt before imposing a penalty, and the two routes do not run together: where a financial penalty has been imposed for the conduct, a person cannot then be convicted by a court of the offence for that same conduct. Liability is not confined to whoever manages the property.

Can I get my rent back if the property is unlicensed?

A tenant may be able to recover rent by applying for a rent repayment order, often called an RRO, and an order is not automatic. Chapter 4 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 lets a tenant apply to the First-tier Tribunal where an offence listed in the table in section 40(3) has been committed, including an offence under section 72(1) or section 95(1) of the Housing Act 2004. Since 1 May 2026, section 40(1) also reaches a superior landlord who committed the offence, not only your immediate landlord.

Section 43(1) says the tribunal "may" make an order, so it stays a discretion even where the offence is proved to the criminal standard, and a landlord has defences, including reasonable excuse, which if established mean there is no offence and so no order.

The amount is not always open either: section 43(3) routes it through section 44 for a tenant's application, and section 46 instead requires the maximum, disregarding the section 44(4) factors, where the landlord has been convicted of or received a final financial penalty for the offence, or has previously been convicted, penalised or made subject to a rent repayment order for the same offence. Section 46(4A) treats an offence under section 72(1) and one under section 95(1) as the same offence for that repeat rule, so earlier enforcement under one licensing regime can count under the other. Section 46(5) then says nothing in the section requires payment of an amount that, by reason of exceptional circumstances, the tribunal considers it would be unreasonable to require the landlord to pay. Section 46A deals with an order against more than one landlord or a previous order. This guide cannot tell you whether an order would be made in your case, or in what amount.

To make an order, section 43(1) of the 2016 Act says the tribunal must be satisfied "beyond reasonable doubt" that the landlord committed the offence, although a criminal conviction is not necessary. Two separate two year limits apply, and they are measured from different points. Under section 41(2) you may apply only if the home was let to you at the time of the offence and the offence was committed in the period of two years ending with the day you apply. That two years, the two years in section 44(2) and the reach of section 40(1) to a superior landlord all came in on 1 May 2026, so the transitional rule set out below governs which version applies. Separately, for an offence under section 72(1) or section 95(1), section 44(2) requires the amount to relate to rent paid in respect of a period, not exceeding two years, during which the landlord was committing the offence.

Section 44(3) then sets a ceiling rather than a formula: the amount must not exceed the rent paid by, or on behalf of, you in respect of that period, less any relevant award of universal credit paid to anyone in respect of rent under the tenancy during that period. The tribunal may award less than that ceiling.

When deciding the amount, section 44(4) says the tribunal must take into account in particular the conduct of the landlord and the tenant, any rent you received for that period, the landlord's financial circumstances, whether the landlord has at any time been convicted of or received a financial penalty for any offence to which Chapter 4 applies, and whether a rent repayment order has ever been made against them. The rent the tenant received and the previous rent repayment order were added on 1 May 2026, and the conviction factor was widened on that date to include a financial penalty. The landlord's financial circumstances and the conduct of the parties were already there.

Regulation 11 of S.I. 2026/421 applies to all of the amendments made by sections 98, 103 and 104 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025, not only to those factors. They have no effect for an offence committed before 1 May 2026, nor for the part of a continuing offence falling before that date, and before that date the period in section 41(2)(b) was 12 months rather than two years. The longer window therefore does not revive a claim that the earlier 12 month rule had already shut out. Which version applies to a particular set of facts, and how a period that straddles that date is treated, is for the tribunal.

What should I gather before approaching the council?

Gather the few documents that bear on the question, rather than everything you hold. That is enough to explain your situation clearly and is what an adviser will ask for first. A good starting point for any tenancy is to understand what to check before you rent a house, as this covers many of the key documents.

Find your tenancy agreement, which sets out the terms of your letting. Collect proof of the rent you have paid for the period in question, and a bank statement can be redacted so that it shows those payments and nothing else. Keep the messages you have exchanged with your landlord or letting agent about the property. Photographs of shared kitchens or bathrooms can help, and it is worth leaving other people's belongings and other people's rooms out of them.

Who decides whether my home needs a licence?

Your local housing authority holds the legal power to designate areas for licensing, to issue licences and to enforce the rules, and a tribunal or a court decides a disputed case. VEYLO X is a software platform for renting and letting in England. Renters can use it to gather their renting information in one place and keep it current. It takes no part in licensing and decides nothing about a property.

VEYLO X for renters

Common questions

Here are some common questions renters ask about property licensing.

What is a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)?

The definition is in section 254 of the Housing Act 2004, which sets out five separate routes. They include the standard test, the self-contained flat test, the converted building test, a declaration under section 255 and a converted block of flats under section 257, and each carries several conditions, with further exclusions in Schedule 14. GOV.UK summarises the usual case as at least three people from more than one household sharing a kitchen or bathroom. That summary is not the statutory test, and this guide does not set the test out in full or apply it. Some smaller HMOs only need a licence if the local council has an additional licensing scheme. Whether a property meets the definition of an HMO is a legal judgement for a council or tribunal to make based on the facts.

What is selective licensing?

Selective licensing is the Part 3 scheme, under which a local housing authority designates an area and houses in that area are required to be licensed. Where a house required to be licensed under Part 3 is not licensed, section 95(1) of the Housing Act 2004, as substituted on 1 May 2026, makes it an offence by any person having control of or managing it, by any person who is the landlord or licensor of an occupier, and by any superior landlord or licensor, subject to the defences in section 95(3A) to (3C), and to the separate defence in section 95(3) where a duly made licence application or a duly given temporary exemption notification was effective at the material time. A Part 3 designation does not depend on a home being a house in multiple occupation. Whether a particular home inside a designated area is required to be licensed depends on the terms of the designation and on the exemptions in the Act and in regulations, not on the designation alone. That is a judgement for the authority or a tribunal and this guide does not answer it.

Is the landlord always the one responsible?

Not only the landlord. Since 1 May 2026, sections 72(1) and 95(1) of the Housing Act 2004 provide that where a house required to be licensed is not licensed, an offence is committed by any person having control of or managing it, by any person who is the landlord or licensor of an occupier, and by any superior landlord or licensor. Who falls into those categories is a question of statutory definition rather than of what a management contract says, and a contract between a landlord and an agent does not decide it. The defences in section 72(4A) to (4C) and section 95(3A) to (3C) then apply, as does the separate defence in section 72(4) and section 95(3) where a duly made licence application or a duly given temporary exemption notification was effective at the material time.

Do I have to move out if the property is unlicensed?

A missing licence does not by itself bring a tenancy to an end, and the duty to hold it falls on the statutory categories in sections 72(1) and 95(1) rather than on you as an occupier. Whether any particular letting is affected in some other way is not something this guide can decide for you. Section 21 notices were abolished on 1 May 2026 for assured tenancies that are not social housing assured tenancies, subject to savings for some pre-existing tenancies, so for those tenancies a landlord relies on a statutory ground for possession. Licensing has not dropped out of possession altogether: Ground 6B in Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988 deals with a licence being refused or revoked, and with occupation in excess of what a licence allows, so in those circumstances a licensing problem can itself be a ground. Whether the lack of a licence affects a possession claim against you is a question for a court and this guide does not answer it.

Sources

The primary sources behind this guide. Where the law and a summary disagree, the law is what counts.

This article is general information, not legal advice. It covers England only and reflects the position as at November 2026. For the current rules, see the GOV.UK guidance on houses in multiple occupation licences, and consider free advice from Shelter or Citizens Advice for your own situation.

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