HMO and selective licensing in Brent Council

Brent runs both of the extra schemes England's licensing law lets a council designate. A borough-wide additional HMO scheme came into force on 2 February 2026 and runs for five years. It covers smaller HMOs shared by three or four people from two or more households. Selective licensing covers privately rented homes let to a single person, two people or one household, across the whole borough except the Wembley Park ward. Two designations brought it in, on 1 August 2023 and 1 April 2024. So most privately rented homes in Brent now need a licence of one kind or another.^[8]

Whatever Brent designates locally, a large HMO shared by at least five people from more than one household needs a mandatory licence anywhere in England. The property licensing guide sets out the national tests that sit behind every local scheme.^[10]

Brent keeps a public register of the licences it grants and lets you check whether a particular address is licensed through its property licensing pages. A missing entry is a reason to ask the licensing team in writing, not proof of an offence: an application or an exemption may have covered the dates you rented. Keep the council's written confirmation of when any designation legally applied; a later register entry cannot settle an earlier period by itself.^[8]

1. Open the official register. Check Brent's licence register (opens in new tab)^[8]
2. Search the exact address. Save a dated screenshot or download of the result. Councils must keep a register of licences, temporary exemption notices and management orders and make it available for inspection.^[11]
3. Ask about applications and exemptions. A missing entry is a reason to investigate, not proof of an offence, so ask whether a licence, application or exemption covered the dates you rented there.^[14]
4. Report or ask in writing. Report an unlicensed property (opens in new tab). Brent provides an online form to report a privately rented property you think should be licensed.^[8] Ask for a reference number and keep the reply.

Brent inspects licensed HMOs against its published standards and can grant a licence for up to five years, checking among other things that the home is free of serious (category 1) hazards under the housing health and safety rating system. That lets a renter separate two questions: whether the property needed a licence at the time, and whether it met Brent's standards once licensed.^[8]

• National conditions are the floor. Every licence carries the prescribed conditions on gas, electrics, alarms, tenancy terms and waste, and can last up to five years; the property licensing guide lists them in full.^[12]
• Compare the licence with reality. The register entry or licence may identify the manager, the permitted occupancy and property-specific conditions. Check those details against how the home is actually occupied and managed.
• Keep separate evidence of hazards. A licence does not establish continuing compliance. Report disrepair or an immediate safety risk separately, and keep photographs, messages and certificates.

All three of Brent's schemes are now in force, so a home let without the licence it needs may involve an offence. Timing still decides it: if your letting straddles a scheme's start date, ask the licensing team in writing which scheme and date applied to your address.^[8]

1. Confirm the scheme and dates. Match the address, occupancy and rental period to the designation in force at the time.
2. Ask the council in writing. Report an unlicensed property (opens in new tab). Ask Brent Council whether an effective application or temporary exemption existed and when it took effect.^[8]
3. Check the legal position. An application, an exemption, a reasonable excuse or the identity of the person legally responsible (the "person managing or controlling" the property) can all affect whether an offence is proved.^[14]
4. Preserve the evidence. Keep the tenancy, rent payments, proof of occupation, dated searches and council correspondence.

For a licensing offence committed on or after the 1 May 2026 rule change, a tenant can ask the First-tier Tribunal for up to two years' rent, and normally has two years from the offence to apply. The tenant must prove the offence beyond reasonable doubt, and the tribunal decides any award from the statutory factors and evidence; recovery is never automatic.^[15] Older offence periods may be governed by earlier limits. Free housing advice is available from Shelter and Citizens Advice, and local law centres can help with tribunal cases.