Greenwich Fit and Proper Person Test for Landlords: What Gets Checked

What the Test Is

Every landlord licence application in Greenwich requires the proposed licence holder — and any named managing agent — to pass a fit-and-proper person assessment. The council must be satisfied under Sections 66 and 89 of the Housing Act 2004 that the people responsible for the property are suitable to hold a licence.

This is not a background check you commission yourself. You make declarations on the council's Metastreet portal, and the council assesses them. But what you declare matters, because a false or incomplete declaration is itself grounds for refusal or revocation.

What Gets Declared

The declaration covers four areas:

Unspent criminal convictions. Specifically convictions for violence, sexual offences, fraud, drugs, or housing law violations. Spent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 do not need to be declared. The key word is "unspent" — a conviction becomes spent after a fixed period that depends on the sentence.

Housing enforcement history. Civil penalties, prosecutions, improvement notices, prohibition orders, works in default or licence revocations under the Housing Act 2004, anywhere in England — not just in Greenwich. If another council fined you for operating an unlicensed HMO in Tower Hamlets, that must be declared.

Banning orders. A banning order under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 prohibits a person from letting or managing property. Anyone subject to a banning order cannot hold a licence.

Discrimination findings. Any adverse finding under the Equality Act 2010 by a court or tribunal must be declared. This covers unlawful discrimination in letting, managing or disposing of property.

How the Council Decides

The council weighs the declarations alongside any intelligence it holds or can access through cross-authority information sharing. A single spent conviction from decades ago is unlikely to cause problems. A recent civil penalty for operating an unlicensed property will raise serious questions.

The decision is not automatic. An officer reviews the declaration and may ask for further information. If the council is minded to refuse on fit-and-proper grounds, it must follow the statutory process: issue a draft refusal notice, allow a three-week representation period, and consider any response before making a final decision.

What Happens If You Fail

If the proposed licence holder fails the fit-and-proper test, the licence application is refused. The property cannot be lawfully let without a licence, so a refusal creates an immediate compliance problem.

Options at that point:

• Appoint a different licence holder. If the property owner fails but a UK-based managing agent can pass, the agent can be named as licence holder instead. The agent must accept legal responsibility for all licence conditions.
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. The landlord can challenge the refusal within 28 days at the Property Chamber. The tribunal rehears the case from scratch and can substitute its own decision.
• Apply for a Temporary Exemption Notice. If the property is being sold or the tenancy is being ended, a TEN provides up to three months (extendable to six in exceptional cases) of lawful exemption while the situation is resolved.

Common Concerns

"I had a council tax summons years ago — does that count?" Probably not. Council tax liability orders are civil debts, not criminal convictions. They do not appear on the fit-and-proper declaration unless they escalated to a committal order.

"My letting agent has a housing penalty — am I affected?" If the agent is named on the licence as the managing agent, their history is assessed. Choose agents carefully.

"Does the test apply to selective licences too?" Yes. The fit-and-proper requirement applies to every licence type in Greenwich — selective, additional HMO and mandatory HMO.

For a complete walkthrough of the declaration, including which conviction categories are relevant and how the representation period works, see our Greenwich landlord licensing guide.

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