Greenwich Landlord Licensing: Do You Need a Licence for Your Rental Property?

Three Licensing Schemes Running at Once

The Royal Borough of Greenwich operates three separate property licensing schemes under the Housing Act 2004, and they can overlap. A single property might need one licence or none at all, depending on where it sits and who lives in it.

Here is what is active right now:

• Mandatory HMO licensing — borough-wide, covers any property with five or more people from two or more households sharing facilities. This is a national requirement, not a local designation.
• Additional HMO licensing — borough-wide since 1 January 2024, running until 31 December 2028. Catches smaller shared houses with three or four people from two or more households, plus Section 257 converted flat blocks.
• Selective licensing — designated areas within five wards (Woolwich Riverside, Woolwich Common, Shooters Hill, Plumstead Common, Plumstead Glyndon), running from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2027. Covers single-household lets and two-person shares in those areas.

If your property does not fall into any of these categories, no licence is needed. A single-family let outside the five selective wards, for example, is currently exempt.

How to Work Out Which Licence Applies

The test runs in order: location first, then occupancy.

Step 1 — Count occupants and households. Under Section 258 of the Housing Act 2004, anyone who is not part of the same family counts as a separate household. Two unrelated friends sharing a flat form two households.

Step 2 — Check the ward. If the property is in one of the five designated wards and let to a single household or two unrelated sharers, you need a selective licence. Use the council's address search tool on the Metastreet portal to confirm ward status.

Step 3 — Apply the occupancy threshold.

A resident owner with up to two lodgers is exempt under Schedule 14 of the Housing Act. A third lodger tips the property into additional HMO territory borough-wide.

What Happens If You Get It Wrong

Letting without the correct licence is a criminal offence. Greenwich can issue civil penalties of up to £40,000 per offence, and tenants can claim a rent repayment order covering up to 24 months of rent under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 amendments. Licensing failure does not itself bar a Section 8 possession notice or a Section 13 rent-increase notice. Section 21 was barred for unlicensed properties before it was abolished for private assured tenancies on 1 May 2026.

The council's enforcement team runs proactive checks, and tenants increasingly use the public register to verify licence status before pursuing claims.

The Proposed Expansion

Greenwich consulted between July and October 2026 on expanding selective licensing from five wards to 18. No cabinet decision has been made yet, so the expansion is not in force. Until a new designation instrument is signed, selective licensing applies only in the original five wards.

If the expansion goes ahead, nearly every private rental in the borough would need some form of licence. Worth monitoring, but not something to act on until the decision is confirmed.

Getting the Application Right First Time

The council charges fees in two stages, and Stage 1 is non-refundable. An incomplete application means you lose the processing fee (£452.88 for selective, or £263.91 per letting unit for HMOs) and have to start again.

Before you touch the portal, make sure you have a current gas safety certificate, an EICR no more than five years old, an EPC rated E or above, scaled floor plans with room dimensions in square metres, and a completed fire risk assessment for any common parts.

Our step-by-step Greenwich licensing guide walks through every document, fee calculation and portal screen so nothing gets missed on the first submission.

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