Brighton Selective Licensing: Which Wards, Which Properties, and What It Costs

What Brighton's Selective Licensing Scheme Actually Covers

Brighton and Hove City Council launched its selective licensing scheme on 2 September 2024, and it runs until 1 September 2029. The scheme applies to privately rented properties in four designated wards: Kemptown, Moulsecoomb & Bevendean, Queens Park, and Whitehawk & Marina.

If you let a property to a single tenant, a couple, or a family in one of those four wards, you need a selective licence unless a statutory exemption or granted Temporary Exemption Notice applies. The same applies if you rent a single-storey flat to three or four unrelated people who don't meet the additional licensing scheme's two-storey test.

Properties outside these four wards don't need a selective licence. And properties that qualify as HMOs — whether under mandatory rules (five or more people from two or more households) or the additional scheme (three to four people across two or more storeys) — need an HMO licence instead, not a selective one. The higher licensing category always takes precedence.

The Paused Expansion to Central Hove and Regency

Brighton's council designated two more wards — Central Hove and Regency — for selective licensing in July 2026, with an original start date of 20 October 2026. But a legal challenge paused the rollout before it took effect.

While the judicial review is pending, landlords in Central Hove and Regency have no duty to apply. The four original wards remain fully active and enforceable. If you own property in one of the paused wards, keep an eye on council announcements, but you can't currently be penalised for not holding a selective licence there.

What It Costs: The Part A and Part B Fee Split

Selective licence fees follow a two-stage structure:

• Part A (£518): Paid at the point of application. Covers processing and is generally non-refundable if your application is refused, rejected, cancelled because you did not respond, or voluntarily withdrawn. The council lists refunds for duplicate payments, verified exemptions, and cases where the wrong licence type was selected and the corrected fee is lower.
• Part B (£222): Invoiced after the council approves your draft licence. You have 10 working days to pay. Failure to pay within the window invalidates and cancels the application, forfeits Part A, and leaves the property unlicensed.
• Total standard fee: £740.
• Late application fee: £840 (an extra £100 if the property has been let without a licence for more than 28 days).

Three discount routes are available, each worth £75: an EPC rating of Band C or higher (or Band D or E if that is the property's maximum potential rating); landlord accreditation through iHowz, the NRLA, or Safeagent, or a Propertymark associate managing agent; and registered-charity status. Up to two discounts can be combined for a maximum £150 reduction, bringing the total to £590. Late applications lose all discount eligibility.

What Happens If You Don't Apply

Operating without a licence in a designated ward is a criminal offence under the Housing Act 2004. Brighton's enforcement team can issue civil penalties of up to £40,000 per offence (raised from £30,000 in May 2026) or pursue prosecution in the Magistrates' Court for an unlimited fine.

Tenants can also apply for a Rent Repayment Order through the First-tier Tribunal. For breaches after 1 May 2026, the maximum recovery period is 24 months of gross rent — double the previous 12-month limit.

How to Get Compliant

The process starts with verifying your property's ward location on the council's online tools (postal addresses alone aren't reliable, especially after recent boundary changes). From there, gather the required documents — Gas Safety Certificate, EICR, EPC, a dimensioned floor plan, tenancy agreement, and six-monthly inspection logs — and submit through the council's online licensing portal.

If you want a single reference that walks through the decision sequence, document requirements, fee calculations, and portal submission step by step, the Brighton and Hove Landlord Licensing Guide covers every active scheme in one place.

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