Hackney Property Licence Exemptions: Who Does Not Need a Licence

The Default: Most Rentals Need a Licence

Hackney's three licensing schemes — mandatory HMO, additional HMO, and selective — cover nearly every private rental in the borough. The additional HMO scheme and mandatory HMO scheme are borough-wide. The selective scheme covers 17 of 21 wards. If you let a residential property in Hackney, the starting assumption should be that it needs a licence.

That said, several narrow exemptions exist under Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004 and the local designation notices.

Resident Landlord Exemption

If you live in the property as your main residence and let to no more than two lodgers — with total occupancy not exceeding three people including yourself — the property is exempt from HMO licensing. You share the property as an owner-occupier, not as a commercial landlord.

The threshold is strict. If you take a third lodger, the property becomes an HMO with four occupants from at least two households, triggering the additional HMO licence requirement. The exemption does not scale with property size — it is capped at two lodgers regardless of how many bedrooms the property has.

Public and Educational Bodies

Properties managed or controlled by public sector bodies are exempt. This includes:

• Local housing authorities
• Registered providers of social housing (housing associations)
• Health authorities and NHS trusts
• Educational institutions, where the building is occupied exclusively by registered students of that institution

A private landlord renting to students does not qualify under this exemption — it applies only to purpose-built student accommodation managed by the university or college itself.

The Four Excluded Wards (Selective Only)

Four wards are excluded from Hackney's selective licensing designation:

• Haggerston
• Hoxton East & Shoreditch
• Hoxton West
• Woodberry Down

A single-household let or a two-sharer property in one of these wards does not need a selective licence. But the exemption is narrow: if the property is shared by three or more people from separate households, it still needs an additional or mandatory HMO licence — those schemes are borough-wide and have no ward exclusions.

Temporary Exemption Notices

Under sections 62 and 85 of the Housing Act 2004, a landlord can apply to Hackney Council for a Temporary Exemption Notice (TEN) if they are taking active steps to remove the property from the licensing requirement. Valid reasons include:

• Serving notices to recover possession for owner-occupation
• A binding contract to sell the property to an owner-occupier
• Reconfiguring the occupancy so it falls below licensing thresholds

A TEN provides legal protection from prosecution for three months, with a possible single three-month extension in exceptional circumstances — six months maximum. It is not a way to delay a standard application while continuing to let the property commercially. The council will refuse a TEN if the landlord's stated plans are not genuine or if there is no realistic prospect of the property ceasing to need a licence.

Section 257 Converted Blocks

Hackney's additional HMO licensing scheme explicitly excludes section 257 HMOs — buildings converted into self-contained flats where the conversion did not meet the 1991 Building Regulations and fewer than two-thirds of the flats are owner-occupied. The whole building does not need an additional HMO licence.

Individual flats within a section 257 block are not exempt from licensing generally. Each flat is assessed on its own: if it is let to a single household in a selective ward, it needs a selective licence; if it is let as a shared house with five or more occupants, it needs a mandatory HMO licence.

Confirming Your Exemption

Exemptions are narrowly defined and fact-specific. If you believe your property is exempt, the safest step is to request written confirmation from Hackney's Private Sector Housing Team at [email protected]. A missing entry on the public register does not confirm exemption — it may simply mean the database has not been updated.

For the full decision framework covering who needs a licence, which type, and how to apply, see the Hackney landlord licensing guide.

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