Do I Need a Landlord Licence in Peterborough?

Three Licensing Schemes Running at Once

Peterborough City Council runs three separate property licensing schemes under the Housing Act 2004. The answer to "do I need a licence?" depends on two things: where the property sits and who lives in it.

The three schemes are:

• Selective licensing — covers single-family lets and two-person shares in designated areas within 10 wards. Runs from 11 March 2024 to 10 March 2029.
• Additional HMO licensing — covers smaller HMOs with 3 or 4 unrelated occupants sharing facilities, city-wide. Runs from 26 January 2026 to 25 January 2031.
• Mandatory HMO licensing — covers larger HMOs with 5 or more occupants from 2 or more households sharing facilities, city-wide. This is a permanent national scheme with no expiry date.

If your property sits outside the 10 selective licensing wards and is let to a single household, you currently don't need a licence. But if you have three or more unrelated tenants sharing a kitchen or bathroom, the additional or mandatory HMO scheme applies regardless of where the property is in Peterborough.

How to Check Whether Your Address Needs a Licence

Start with the occupancy question. Count the number of unrelated people living in the property and how many separate households they form. Two friends sharing a flat count as two households. A couple counts as one.

• 1 person, 1 family, or 2 unrelated sharers → check whether the address falls inside a designated selective licensing area
• 3 or 4 unrelated occupants from 2+ households → additional HMO licence required (city-wide)
• 5 or more occupants from 2+ households sharing basic facilities → mandatory HMO licence required (city-wide)

For selective licensing, use Peterborough's official online address lookup tool or cross-reference the exact property against the signed designation street schedule. Ward-level maps and postcode checks alone aren't precise enough — boundary lines sometimes split a single street, and individual flats in a converted building each need separate verification.

The 10 wards covered by the selective licensing scheme are Bretton, Central, East, Fletton and Stanground, Fletton and Woodston, North, Orton Waterville, Park, Paston and Walton, and Stanground South. Not every address within these wards is designated — the scheme covers specific mapped areas, not the entire ward boundary.

What Happens If You Get It Wrong

Letting a property that requires a licence with neither the correct licence nor a duly made application is a criminal offence under the Housing Act 2004. Peterborough City Council can issue civil penalties of up to £40,000 per offence, and tenants can apply for a rent repayment order covering up to 24 months of rent. You also lose the ability to serve a Section 21 notice — which, since the Renters' Rights Act 2025 abolished no-fault evictions from 1 May 2026, now means you cannot use the old eviction route at all.

The Council actively enforces licensing. Home Safe, the external partner that processes applications, also carries out property inspections during each scheme's term.

The Licence Categories Don't Stack

Only one licence applies to any given property at a time. Mandatory HMO licensing overrides additional and selective. Additional HMO licensing overrides selective. If your property was selectively licensed before 26 January 2026 and houses 3 or 4 sharers, the Council automatically passported your existing selective licence into the additional scheme — you don't need to reapply or pay again until that licence expires.

If occupancy changes — say a tenant leaves and you drop from 5 to 4 occupants — the higher licence stays in place unless you apply for a formal variation.

Next Steps

If you're unsure which licence applies, run the address check first. For a complete walkthrough of the application process, fee splits, documents you need, and licence conditions for all three Peterborough schemes, the Peterborough Landlord Licensing Guide covers every step from address lookup to final grant.

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