HMO and selective licensing in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Two kinds of HMO licence can apply in Sandwell, and which one — if any — depends on the property, who lives there and how it is let.

• Mandatory HMO licensing always applies to the largest shared houses — five or more people from more than one household — anywhere in the borough.
• Additional HMO licensing has covered smaller shared houses across the whole borough since it came into force on 1 October 2024: a house shared by three or four people from more than one household needs a licence too. A scheme like this one runs for a maximum of five years, so this one cannot continue past 30 September 2029 unless the council makes a new one.^[9]
• There is no selective licensing scheme in Sandwell, so an ordinary private let that is not a shared house does not need a property licence.

Because the additional scheme is borough-wide, most shared houses in Sandwell now need a licence of one kind or the other. Check the position for a specific address with the council.^[9]

Whatever Sandwell 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.^[15]

Sandwell publishes its HMO licence register as a spreadsheet you can download from the council's website. Open it and search for the address to see whether the home holds a licence. If the address is not in the register, or you are not sure the entry is current, the council's licensing team can confirm the position.^[11]

1. Download Sandwell's register of licensed HMOs and search it for the address. Download Sandwell's register of licensed HMOs (opens in new tab)^[11]
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.^[16]
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.^[19]
4. Report or ask in writing. Report a suspected unlicensed HMO to Sandwell (opens in new tab). Report a suspected unlicensed HMO to Sandwell's private-sector housing and licensing team by email at landlord_licensing@sandwell.gov.uk, with the address and who lives there.^[14] Ask for a reference number and keep the reply.

A licence in Sandwell comes with conditions the landlord has to meet — safe gas and electrical installations, working smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms, enough cooking and washing facilities for the household, fire precautions, and tidy waste storage — and it fixes the most people allowed to live there. Because the additional scheme reaches ordinary small shared houses and not only large HMOs, check the licence held for an address against how the home is really occupied and who runs it.^[10]

• 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.^[17]
• 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.

Whether a home in Sandwell should have carried a licence depends on how it was let and who lived there. The biggest shared houses always fall under mandatory HMO licensing; a smaller house let to three or four sharers is caught by the borough-wide additional scheme that started on 1 October 2024.^[9][11]

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 a suspected unlicensed HMO to Sandwell (opens in new tab). Ask Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council whether an effective application or temporary exemption existed and when it took effect.^[14]
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.^[19]
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.^[20] 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.