Greenwich Selective Licensing Wards: Which Areas Need a Licence?

The Five Designated Wards

Greenwich's selective licensing scheme has been running since 1 October 2022 and expires on 30 September 2027. It applies to privately rented single-household properties and two-person shares in designated areas within five council wards:

1. Woolwich Riverside
2. Woolwich Common
3. Shooters Hill
4. Plumstead Common
5. Plumstead Glyndon

Every other ward in the borough is outside the selective scheme. If your rental property is in Eltham, Charlton, Blackheath, Greenwich Town or anywhere else not listed above, selective licensing does not apply to it — though additional or mandatory HMO licensing still might, depending on occupancy.

Checking Your Property's Ward

Postcodes straddle ward boundaries. A property on one side of a street can be inside the designation while the one opposite is not. The only reliable way to confirm is to use the council's address search tool on the Metastreet licensing portal at greenwich.metastreet.co.uk.

Enter the full property address. The portal maps it against the designation boundary and tells you whether selective licensing applies. Do not rely on postcode alone — SE18 covers parts of Woolwich Riverside and Woolwich Common but also extends into non-designated areas.

If the tool says your property is in a designated ward and it is let to a single household or two unrelated sharers, you need a selective licence. The fee is £905.75, split across two stages.

Ward-Specific Notes

Woolwich Riverside and Woolwich Common form the core of the original designation. High concentrations of converted Victorian terraces and ex-council stock mean a mix of selective and additional HMO licensing applies across these areas. A house let to a family needs a selective licence; the same house let to three unrelated sharers needs an additional HMO licence instead.

Shooters Hill has a smaller private rented stock, but the ward was included based on anti-social behaviour and poor housing condition data submitted during the 2021 consultation.

Plumstead Common and Plumstead Glyndon sit either side of Plumstead Common itself. Landlords here sometimes assume the parks mark the boundary — they do not. Use the portal's address lookup rather than guessing.

Boundary Edge Cases

Properties that changed address or were subdivided since the designation can cause confusion. If a house has been split into self-contained flats, each flat is assessed individually. A flat let to a single household in a designated ward needs a selective licence. A flat let to three sharers in any ward needs an additional HMO licence.

Properties in mid-sale are not exempt. If a property requires a selective licence and is sold while tenanted, the new owner must apply for a fresh licence before or immediately upon completion. Licences are non-transferable.

What About the Proposed 18-Ward Expansion?

The council consulted on expanding selective licensing to 18 wards between July and October 2026. No cabinet decision has been published yet. Until a new statutory instrument is signed, selective licensing remains limited to the five wards above.

If you own rental property in wards that might be added — Eltham South, Kidbrooke Park, Charlton, Abbey Wood, Thamesmead — it is worth preparing, but you do not need to apply or pay anything until a designation is formally in force.

Next Steps

If your property is in one of the five wards and let to a single household or two unrelated sharers, you need to apply. The council's Stage 1 fee is non-refundable, so getting the paperwork right before you start matters. Our Greenwich landlord licensing guide includes a pre-submission checklist, fee calculator and step-by-step portal walkthrough for every scheme.

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