Birmingham Selective Licensing Fees: The Two-Stage Cost Breakdown

The total fee for a selective licence in Birmingham is £700 per property. That is not optional, there are no portfolio discounts, and you pay it for every rental property individually. A landlord with five properties in designated wards pays £3,500 in licensing fees alone — before council tax, insurance, or any of the safety certificates the application requires.

How the Two-Stage Payment Works

Birmingham splits the fee into two stages:

Stage 1 — £375 (application fee). You pay this when you submit the online application through the council's Property Licensing Portal. It covers administrative processing and the fit-and-proper-person assessment. This payment is non-refundable once processing begins, even if the application is later refused.

Stage 2 — £325 (grant fee). The council collects this after it completes its review and issues a draft decision (called a Notice of Intention to Grant). You have a 14-day representation window after receiving the notice, then the Stage 2 fee becomes due. Only after Stage 2 is paid does the council issue the final licence.

Payment is by debit or credit card during the online process. There is no option to pay by bank transfer, cheque, or in person.

Do Any Discounts Apply?

Birmingham City Council offers fee reductions for landlords holding recognised professional accreditation at the time of submission. Two qualifications are accepted:

• NRLA Accreditation — issued by the National Residential Landlords Association
• MAPS — the Midlands Accreditation for Property Standards, a regional West Midlands scheme

The accreditation must be active and current when you submit the Stage 1 application. Lapsed or expired memberships do not qualify. The exact discount amount is confirmed during the application process.

There are no volume or portfolio discounts. Ten properties require ten separate applications and ten full fees.

What About HMO Licence Fees?

If your property qualifies as an HMO instead of a selective-licence property, the fees differ. Additional HMO licences (for three or four occupants forming two or more households) and Section 257 HMO licences cost £755 each. Mandatory HMO licences (five or more occupants) run at approximately £1,100, with the exact amount varying based on occupancy.

All HMO licence fees also follow the two-stage structure.

Budgeting for Multiple Properties

The simplest way to avoid a cash-flow shock is to budget the full £700 per property up front, knowing that £375 leaves your account immediately and the remaining £325 follows weeks or months later, depending on how fast the council processes your file.

Factor in the cost of the safety certificates the application requires too — a gas safety certificate, EICR, EPC, and any fire risk assessments for HMOs. These are prerequisites, not extras.

Our Birmingham Landlord Licensing Guide includes a fee budget planner covering all three Birmingham licensing schemes, so you can see the total compliance cost across your portfolio before you start the first application.

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