HMO Licence Fees in England: Part A, Part B, and What Councils Charge

The first surprise for most landlords applying for an HMO licence isn't the paperwork — it's the fee structure. Unlike a flat council tax bill, HMO licence fees in England are split into two payments at different stages of the application, and the first part is non-refundable whether the licence is granted or not.

Why Fees Are Split Into Two Parts

Following the Supreme Court ruling in R (Hemming) v Westminster City Council [2017] UKSC 50 and the European Services Directive, councils must separate their licensing fees into two components:

• Part A (processing fee): Covers the administrative cost of processing your application — checking documents, running the fit-and-proper person assessment, and validating the submission. You pay this when you submit the application. It is non-refundable even if the application is refused, withdrawn, or deemed incomplete.
• Part B (grant/enforcement fee): Covers the ongoing costs of running the licensing scheme — inspections, enforcement against unlicensed operators, and compliance monitoring. You only pay this after the council approves your application and issues a "Minded to Grant" notice.

This split matters for budgeting. The total fee quoted on a council's website is Parts A and B combined, but you don't pay the full amount upfront — and Part A is at risk if your application fails validation.

What Major Councils Charge

Every council sets its own fees under s.87 of the Housing Act 2004, so there is no national standard rate. Here's what several major councils currently charge for a mandatory HMO licence:

Fees scale upward for larger properties. Manchester charges more per additional occupant beyond five; Nottingham's £1,607 covers up to nine bedrooms.

Accreditation Discounts

Most councils offer reduced fees to landlords who hold recognised accreditation — typically through DASH (Decent and Safe Homes), Unipol, ANUK, or a local standard like the Leeds Rental Standard. Nottingham's discount saves £397 off the full fee. Leeds offers £150 off.

The catch: you must maintain active accreditation for the entire five-year licence term. If your membership lapses, the council can demand repayment of the discount. Accreditation doesn't exempt you from licensing — it simply reduces the fee and may lower the priority of routine inspections.

What Happens If Your Application Fails

If you submit an incomplete application — missing a gas safety certificate, an expired EICR, or a floor plan that doesn't meet the council's requirements — the council will issue a rejection or mark the application invalid. You'll typically get 21 to 28 days to supply the missing documents.

If you don't provide them in time, the application is deemed withdrawn. The Part A fee is forfeited. You'll need to start again with a fresh application and a fresh Part A payment. On a council like Manchester, that's £865 gone.

This is why pre-submission preparation matters more than the fee itself. A single missing certificate can cost you the Part A fee and restart the entire process.

VAT and Third-Party Fees

Council licensing fees are not subject to VAT when charged by the local authority in its statutory capacity. But if you use a letting agent or compliance consultant to handle the application for you, their professional fees will carry VAT on top — and those agent fees (typically £250–£300 plus VAT) come on top of the council charges.

The total cost of licensing through an agent — agency fee plus council Part A plus Part B — can easily exceed £1,500 for a single property. For self-managing landlords, handling the application directly saves the agency layer entirely.

The HMO licensing guide includes a fee and document tracker that sequences every certificate, payment, and upload in the order councils expect them, so nothing is left out when you open the portal.

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