Greenwich HMO Licence: Mandatory vs Additional vs Selective Explained

Three Schemes, One Borough

Greenwich runs three overlapping property licensing schemes. They target different property types and occupancy levels, so working out which one applies is the first job — and getting it wrong means no licence at all, with penalties of up to £40,000.

Mandatory HMO Licensing

This is the national scheme under Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004. It applies borough-wide, in every ward, with no expiry date.

Who needs it: Any property occupied by five or more people forming two or more separate households who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.

The classic example is a five-bedroom shared house with tenants on individual tenancy agreements. Student houses with five or more occupants also fall here.

Fee: £527.82 per letting unit for up to five units, then £316.69 per additional unit. A five-bed house costs £2,639.10 in total.

Additional HMO Licensing

Greenwich introduced this borough-wide scheme on 1 January 2024, running until 31 December 2028. It catches smaller shared properties that fall below the mandatory threshold.

Who needs it: Properties with three or four people from two or more households sharing facilities — anywhere in Greenwich, regardless of ward. It also covers Section 257 converted flat blocks where fewer than two-thirds of the flats are owner-occupied and the conversion did not meet building regulations at the time.

A three-person professional house share in Greenwich Town (SE10) needs an additional HMO licence even though it is nowhere near the five selective licensing wards.

Fee: Same per-unit structure as mandatory — £527.82 per letting unit.

Selective Licensing

This is the ward-based scheme under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004. It applies only in designated areas within five wards: Woolwich Riverside, Woolwich Common, Shooters Hill, Plumstead Common and Plumstead Glyndon. The current designation runs from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2027.

Who needs it: Single-household lets and two-person shares in those designated areas. If a property in Woolwich Riverside is let to a couple, it needs a selective licence.

Fee: £905.75 per property, charged in two stages.

How They Overlap

The schemes do not stack — a property needs one licence, not two or three. The HMO schemes take priority. If a property in Woolwich Riverside is let to four unrelated sharers, it needs an additional HMO licence, not a selective licence, because the occupancy triggers the higher scheme.

A resident owner with up to two lodgers is exempt under Schedule 14 of the Housing Act. Adding a third lodger immediately triggers additional HMO licensing.

The Section 257 Trap

Converted flat blocks are easy to miss. If a building was divided into self-contained flats without meeting building regulations at the time of conversion, and fewer than two-thirds of the flats are owner-occupied, the whole block is treated as an HMO under Section 257. Each letting unit in the block needs an additional HMO licence — even if every flat is self-contained with its own kitchen and bathroom.

Freeholders and managing agents of older conversions in Charlton, Plumstead and Woolwich should check whether this applies.

Picking the Right Application

Applying for the wrong licence wastes time and money. The council's Stage 1 fee is non-refundable, so an incorrect application means losing that payment and starting again. Our Greenwich landlord licensing guide includes a decision flowchart that walks through the occupancy and ward tests step by step, so you apply for the right scheme on the first attempt.

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