Birmingham Selective Licensing Wards: Full List and How to Check Your Property

Selective licensing in Birmingham does not cover the whole city. It applies to 25 specific electoral wards out of the 69 across the municipality. A non-exempt non-HMO private rental in one of these wards needs a selective licence. If it does not qualify for selective licensing, you may still need an HMO licence — but the selective scheme does not apply.

The Full List of 25 Designated Wards

Here are the wards covered by the scheme running from 5 June 2023 to 4 June 2028:

Acocks Green, Alum Rock, Aston, Balsall Heath West, Birchfield, Bordesley & Highgate, Bordesley Green, Bournbrook & Selly Park, Edgbaston, Gravelly Hill, Handsworth, Heartlands, Holyhead, Ladywood, Lozells, North Edgbaston, Small Heath, Soho & Jewellery Quarter, South Yardley, Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath East, Sparkhill, Stockland Green, Tyseley & Hay Mills, Ward End, and Yardley West & Stechford.

Outer wards — including Sutton Coldfield, Northfield, Erdington, and Hall Green — are outside the selective licensing designation. Properties there still fall under the city-wide additional HMO licensing scheme if they are occupied by three or more people forming two or more households.

How to Check Whether Your Property Is in a Designated Ward

Postcode lookups alone are unreliable. Electoral ward boundaries do not line up neatly with postcode sectors, and properties on the edge of a ward can fall either side of the line depending on the exact address.

The reliable method is to use Birmingham City Council's address-level lookup tool, which uses the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) linked to the Ordnance Survey's Find My Address infrastructure. Enter the full property address — including flat number or block designation — on the council's Property Licensing Portal. The system confirms whether the address falls within a selective licensing ward.

If you are on a boundary street and the lookup is ambiguous, contact the council's licensing team at [email protected] or call 0121 303 5070.

Bournbrook & Selly Park: A Common Edge Case

Bournbrook & Selly Park is one of the designated wards and includes Birmingham's densest student rental area. Many properties there are HMOs rather than single-family lets, which means they need an additional or mandatory HMO licence instead of a selective licence. For a single rental unit, mandatory HMO licensing takes priority over additional HMO licensing, which displaces selective licensing. Section 257 converted buildings can also require a building-level licence alongside separate licences for individual flats.

If you have a student house with three or four unrelated occupants in Bournbrook & Selly Park, you need an additional HMO licence (£755), not a selective licence (£700).

What If Your Ward Is Not on the List

Properties in non-designated wards do not need a selective licence. But that does not mean they are exempt from all licensing. Subject to statutory exemptions, Birmingham's additional HMO licensing scheme runs city-wide — all 69 wards — and covers properties with three or more occupants forming two or more households sharing amenities.

The Birmingham Landlord Licensing Guide includes a scheme determination flowchart that takes you from your property's occupancy profile and ward location to the exact licence you need, along with the fee breakdown and application steps.

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