Landlord Licensing in Feltham, Heston, Isleworth and Chiswick (Hounslow Borough)

If you're letting a shared property in Feltham, Heston, Isleworth, or Chiswick, your licensing authority is the London Borough of Hounslow. All four areas — along with Brentford, Hanworth, and every other part of the borough — fall under the same set of HMO licensing rules. There's no postcode lottery here: the rules are borough-wide.

One Borough, One Scheme

Hounslow's Additional HMO Licensing Scheme (4) 2025 covers every electoral ward across the entire borough. The designation instrument names them all explicitly, from Feltham North and Feltham West through Heston Central, Heston East, and Heston West to Isleworth, Chiswick Gunnerbury, Chiswick Homefields, and Chiswick Riverside. Brentford East, Brentford West, Hounslow Central, Hounslow East, Hounslow Heath, Hounslow South, Hounslow West, Hanworth Park, Hanworth Village, Osterley & Spring Grove, and Syon & Brentford Lock are all included too.

There are no street-level exemptions, no partial-postcode carve-outs, and no ward-by-ward differences. Whether your property is on a quiet Chiswick terrace, a converted house near Heston station, a purpose-built flat above shops in Feltham, or a Victorian property in Isleworth, the same thresholds apply.

Which Licence Your Property Needs

The occupancy test is the same everywhere in the borough:

• Three or four persons from two or more households sharing amenities → Additional HMO licence (under the borough-wide Scheme (4) 2025, effective 11 December 2025 through 10 December 2030)
• Five or more persons from two or more households sharing amenities → Mandatory HMO licence (national scheme, no expiry)
• Single household or two unrelated sharers → No licence required (Hounslow has no selective licensing scheme)

The household definition follows Section 258 of the Housing Act 2004: a couple (married or cohabiting) and their children count as one household. Unrelated individuals each form their own household. A flat shared by three unrelated professionals is three households — that's an HMO requiring an additional licence.

Area-Specific Considerations

While the licensing rules are uniform, the property stock varies by area, which affects how the rules play out in practice:

Feltham (TW13, TW14) has a mix of semi-detached houses and ex-council stock. Landlords here often let three-bedroom houses to groups of workers, hitting the three-person additional licensing threshold. Feltham also has a higher proportion of properties without recent EICR updates, so getting the electrical report sorted is often the first step.

Heston (TW5) has dense terraced housing near Heston and Hounslow West stations. Room-by-room lets in Victorian and Edwardian terraces are common, and these properties frequently trigger both the licensing requirement and the Article 4 planning permission requirement for HMO conversion.

Isleworth (TW7) has a range of converted Victorian and Edwardian properties. Section 257 converted buildings — houses divided into self-contained flats that didn't meet Building Regulations at the time of conversion — are more prevalent here. These need an additional licence if the entire building is under single ownership.

Chiswick (W4) has higher property values and a rental market skewed toward professional sharers. Three or four young professionals sharing a house is the typical scenario that triggers the additional licensing requirement. Chiswick properties are also more likely to have leaseholder complications that affect the interested-party notification process.

TW3 and TW4 (Hounslow central) cover the town centre and surrounding residential streets. The concentration of HMOs here is among the highest in the borough, and the council's enforcement activity is correspondingly active.

Applying for a Licence

The application process is the same regardless of where in the borough the property sits. Everything goes through Hounslow Council's online licensing portal. The fee structure is also uniform: £1,608 base fee (£1,509 if you hold an accredited landlord qualification) plus £25 per household in the property.

You'll need the standard document set — Gas Safety certificate, EICR, fire alarm test report (BS 5839), scaled floor plans with room measurements, and tenancy agreements — regardless of whether the property is in Feltham or Chiswick.

For a detailed walkthrough of the entire application process, fees, and document requirements, the Hounslow landlord licensing guide covers every step from deciding which licence you need to submitting on the portal.

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