HMO and selective licensing in Croydon Council

Only mandatory HMO licensing is in force in Croydon as of 4 August 2026. The wider schemes are designated but not yet operative: 14 wards are designated for selective licensing, listed below, and a borough-wide additional HMO scheme is planned. The formal additional designation gives 1 September 2026 as the start date, while the council's current guidance pages say both schemes start on 25 September 2026. Confirm the operative date with Croydon in writing before relying on either scheme.^[12]

Whatever Croydon designates locally, a large HMO shared by at least five people from more than one household needs a mandatory licence anywhere in England. The London licensing guide sets out the national tests that sit behind every local scheme.^[17]

Croydon's planned selective scheme names these wards:^[12]

• Addiscombe East
• Addiscombe West
• Bensham Manor
• Broad Green
• Fairfield
• Norbury and Pollards Hill
• Norbury Park
• Selhurst
• South Croydon
• South Norwood
• Thornton Heath
• Waddon
• West Thornton
• Woodside

Croydon links an online public register for property licences, but when checked on 4 August 2026 the register search returned an error page directing users to email hmo@croydon.gov.uk and quote the error code shown. If the search fails for you too, ask the licensing team by email for the licence position, and rely on the statutory right to inspect the register. Keep the council's written confirmation of when any designation legally applied; a later register entry cannot settle an earlier period by itself.^[14]

1. Open the official register. Open register (opens in new tab)^[14]
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.^[18]
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.^[21]
4. Report or ask in writing. Report an unlicensed HMO (opens in new tab). Croydon provides a dedicated online form for reporting a suspected unlicensed HMO.^[15] Ask for a reference number and keep the reply.

Croydon's detailed HMO standards cover room and amenity sizes, kitchens and bathrooms, fire precautions, heating, refuse storage, repair and management. They let a renter separate two questions: whether the property needed a licence at the time, and whether the physical layout and shared facilities met Croydon's standards once licensed.^[16]

• 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 London licensing guide lists them in full.^[19]
• 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.

Mandatory HMO licensing is the only scheme currently operative in Croydon, and the planned additional and selective schemes cannot be breached before they are legally in force. Official sources conflict about the September start, so in Croydon the dates decide the answer: ask the licensing team to confirm the operative date and the address's coverage in writing.^[12][14]

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 HMO (opens in new tab). Ask Croydon Council whether an effective application or temporary exemption existed and when it took effect.^[15]
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.^[21]
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.^[22] 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.