Blackpool Selective Licensing Wards — Which Areas Need a Licence

The Eight Wards Covered by Selective Licensing

Blackpool Council's Inner Area Selective Licensing Scheme runs from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030 and covers eight specific wards. If you rent out a single-household property in any of these areas, you need a selective licence unless a statutory exemption applies:

• Bloomfield
• Brunswick
• Claremont
• Talbot
• Tyldesley
• Victoria
• Warbreck
• Waterloo

These eight wards sit in the central and inner parts of Blackpool, stretching from Waterloo in the north down through Claremont and Bloomfield towards the south. Together they cover approximately 7,000 privately rented properties — the areas with high concentrations of non-decent housing and persistent antisocial behaviour that justified the designation under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004.

The remaining 13 wards — including Anchorsholme, Bispham, Clifton, Greenlands, Hawes Side, Highfield, Ingthorpe, Layton, Marton, Norbreck, Park, Squires Gate and Stanley — are outside the selective licensing boundary. Properties in those wards with fewer than five occupants do not need a local housing licence, though standard HHSRS and tenancy management duties still apply.

How to Check Whether Your Property Is in a Designated Ward

Blackpool Council's licensing checker at selfservice.blackpool.gov.uk asks for the property's postcode to check whether it is in a relevant scheme area. If the result is unclear for a specific flat, contact the Housing Licensing Team with the full address.

This matters more than you might think. Ward boundaries in Blackpool were redrawn in recent electoral reviews, so relying on an older map, a letting agent's verbal confirmation or a rough postcode guess can land you on the wrong side of the line.

If your property sits on or near a boundary — streets bordering Layton, Park or Hawes Side are common trouble spots — get written confirmation from Blackpool Council's Housing Licensing Team and keep it on file. An email to [email protected] with the full address will do it.

What If You're in a Covered Ward

Once you've confirmed your property falls within one of the eight inner wards, the next question is which licence you actually need. That depends on the occupancy structure, not the ward:

• Five or more occupants in two or more households in an HMO meeting one of the mandatory licensing tests — you need a mandatory HMO licence, which applies borough-wide and overrides selective licensing
• Single-household let, individual sharers, or fewer than five occupants in a designated ward — you need a selective licence

Blackpool does not operate an additional HMO licensing scheme, so smaller shared houses (three or four occupants) inside the eight wards fall under selective licensing rather than a separate HMO scheme.

The Ward-Level Detail People Miss

The designation expires on 31 March 2030, but that date does not automatically set an individual licence's expiry. Under Section 91(4)–(5) of the Housing Act 2004, a licence can run for up to five years from grant or commencement and continues for its stated period even if the house ceases to be a Part 3 house. Check the expiry date on the licence itself.

The Secretary of State confirmed Blackpool's designation on 15 November 2024. The 2024 General Approval came into force later, on 23 December 2024, and removed the need for Secretary of State confirmation for selective licensing schemes of any size.

For an unlicensed-property offence committed on or after 1 May 2026, you face civil penalties of up to £40,000 and potential rent repayment orders of up to 24 months' rent under the Renters' Rights Act 2025. The maximum civil penalty for an offence committed before that date was £30,000.

The Blackpool Landlord Licensing Guide walks through the address check, the licence decision logic, the full application process and the fee structure step by step, with worksheets you can fill in before touching the council portal.

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