Croydon Selective Licensing Wards: Full List and How to Check Your Address

The 14 Designated Wards

Croydon's selective licensing scheme (CPRPL 2026) applies to privately rented, non-HMO properties in 14 specific wards. These are concentrated in the north and west of the borough:

1. Addiscombe East
2. Addiscombe West
3. Bensham Manor
4. Broad Green
5. Fairfield
6. Norbury and Pollards Hill
7. Norbury Park
8. Selhurst
9. South Croydon
10. South Norwood
11. Thornton Heath
12. Waddon
13. West Thornton
14. Woodside

Together these wards contain 32,043 private rented dwellings — about 72.5% of Croydon's non-HMO private rented stock. The council selected them based on evidence of higher concentrations of poor housing conditions, anti-social behaviour, and housing demand, meeting the statutory criteria under Section 80 of the Housing Act 2004.

Wards Where Selective Licensing Does Not Apply

The remaining 14 wards are outside the selective licensing designation: Coulsdon Town, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Kenley, New Addington North, New Addington South, Old Coulsdon, Park Hill and Whitgift, Purley and Woodcote, Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown, Sanderstead, Selsdon and Addington Village, Selsdon Vale and Forestdale, Shirley North, and Shirley South.

If your property is in one of these wards and occupied by a single household or single tenant, no local licensing scheme applies. However, HMO licensing (additional or mandatory) runs borough-wide across all 28 wards — so if your property houses three or more tenants from multiple households, you still need an HMO licence regardless of location.

Why Postcodes Are Not Enough

Ward boundaries regularly cut through postcode areas. A property on one side of a street might be in Thornton Heath (selective licensing required) while a property across the road sits in a non-designated ward. Relying on a postcode lookup alone can give you the wrong answer.

The reliable way to check is the council's official address lookup tool, which maps your property to its exact ward. Croydon also publishes GIS ward boundary maps through its online mapping system. Use the specific address, not the postcode.

What Happens at the Ward Boundary

If your address check shows the property sits near a ward boundary, verify it with Croydon's address lookup using the exact property address. When in doubt, contact the council's licensing service on 020 8050 0276 or [email protected].

If You Are in a Designated Ward

Properties in the 14 selective wards that are let to a single household, single tenant, or two unrelated sharers need a selective licence. The standard five-year licence costs £800, split across Part A (£480 at submission) and Part B (£320 once the application is assessed and the decision is made to grant the licence). Applications go through the council's Metastreet online portal.

If your property is occupied by three or more tenants from different households, you need an HMO licence instead — the selective licence does not apply to HMOs, and an HMO licence exempts you from selective licensing.

Checking Your Property

Our Croydon Landlord Licensing Guide includes the complete ward decision tree, showing exactly which licence route applies based on your property's location and occupancy. It walks through address verification, the licensing hierarchy, and what to do at each step.

See more England guides →