Gateshead Felling Selective Licensing: Phase 2 Rules for Felling Landlords

If you rent out a property in Felling, Dunston, Teams, Birtley or the surrounding areas, your property may fall under Gateshead's selective licensing scheme. Several of these neighbourhoods are in Phase 2, which started on 1 October 2025 — four months after Phase 1 — and runs until 30 September 2030.

Here is what landlords in these areas need to know.

Which Phase Covers Which Area

Phase 1 (1 June 2025 – 31 May 2030) includes Birtley/Birtley Industrial. If you have a rental in Birtley, your licensing obligation started in June 2025.

Phase 2 (1 October 2025 – 30 September 2030) covers:

• North Felling / Felling Shore Industrial
• Felling Falla Park
• Sunderland Road
• Shipcote
• Derwentwater East
• Derwentwater West / Racecourse Estate
• Swalwell North / Metro Centre
• Kelvin Grove

Dunston, Teams and Lobley Hill fall near the Derwentwater and Swalwell LSOAs, but coverage depends on the exact LSOA boundary, not the neighbourhood name. Use the council's address checker to confirm.

Fees and Discounts

The fee structure is identical across both phases:

• Selective licence: £510 Part A + £340 Part B = £850
• Additional HMO licence: £585.80 Part A + £390.50 Part B = £976.30

Part A is paid at submission and is retained if the council refuses or you withdraw the application; Gateshead issues full refunds for applications submitted in error, such as duplicates or properties outside the scheme. Part B is invoiced when the council decides to grant the licence.

The £75 accredited landlord discount (for NRLA, Propertymark, Safeagent, UKALA, RICS or Guild members) comes off Part B. Phase 2's early-bird window (1 July – 30 September 2025) has closed, so early-bird discounts are no longer available.

The Additional HMO Overlap

Even though selective licensing in Phase 2 areas started in October 2025, the additional HMO licensing scheme covers all 16 LSOAs from 1 June 2025. That means a shared house with 3–4 occupants from 2+ households in Felling or Sunderland Road has needed an additional HMO licence since June, not October.

What You Need to Apply

The MetaStreet portal requires:

• CP12 gas safety certificate (annual, Gas Safe registered)
• EICR (satisfactory, max 5-year validity)
• EPC (minimum E rating)
• Written tenancy agreement
• Smoke and carbon monoxide alarm declarations
• Fit-and-proper person declarations
• Floor plans (for HMO applications)

A £25 charge applies when an application is returned for missing information or requires repeated council follow-up. If the council refuses an application, it retains Part A; full refunds are available for applications submitted in error, such as duplicates or properties outside the scheme.

Penalties for Not Applying

For offences committed from 1 May 2026, letting without a licence in a designated area can result in a civil penalty of up to £40,000 and a rent repayment order covering up to 24 months of rent. Offences committed before that date remain subject to the previous £30,000 civil-penalty and 12-month rent-repayment limits. The council identifies unlicensed properties through council tax records, Land Registry data and tenant complaints.

For the complete application walkthrough — including the document checklist, portal steps and fee calculator — see the Gateshead Landlord Licensing Guide.

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