HMO Licence Nottingham: Costs, Application Process and Requirements

Which HMO Licence Does Your Nottingham Property Need?

Nottingham City Council operates two HMO licensing schemes, both citywide:

Mandatory HMO Licensing applies to any property with five or more occupants forming two or more separate households who share basic amenities (kitchen, bathroom, or toilet). This is a national scheme under the Housing Act 2004 with no local expiry date.

Additional HMO Licensing (Scheme 3) brings smaller HMOs into the licensing net — properties with three or four occupants forming two or more separate households who share amenities. This is a local designation running from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2028, covering the entire city.

The household test under Section 258 of the Housing Act 2004 is specific: a "household" means members of the same family (spouses, partners, children, parents, siblings). Two unrelated friends sharing a flat form two separate households. Three unrelated students sharing a house form three households.

HMO Licence Fees (April 2026)

HMO licence fees follow the same two-stage Part A/Part B structure as selective licensing, but the amounts are higher. The Part A fee is the same for all applicants; the Part B fee varies by accreditation status.

For properties with up to nine bedrooms:

Properties with ten or more bedrooms pay an additional £29 per bedroom from the tenth onwards.

The accreditation discount saves £397 on a single HMO licence — a significant amount when DASH training costs £65. For a landlord with multiple HMOs, the maths is overwhelming.

Floor Plan and Room Size Requirements

This is where many HMO applications stall. The floor plans you upload must be scaled and must show:

• Room dimensions — every room's floor area in square metres
• Ceiling heights — explicitly flagging any areas where ceiling height drops below 1.53 metres
• Amenity positions — sinks, cookers, WCs, showers, baths
• Fire safety — positions of fire detection equipment and fire doors
• Layout — the overall internal configuration

National minimum room sizes for sleeping accommodation in HMOs:

• Single room (one occupant aged 10+): at least 6.51 m²
• Double room (two occupants aged 10+): at least 10.22 m²
• Child's room (one occupant under 10): at least 4.64 m²
• Any room under 4.64 m² cannot be used as a bedroom at all

These aren't Nottingham-specific — they're national standards under the Housing Act 2004. But Nottingham City Council will check them against your floor plans during the application review, and rooms that fall below minimum size will reduce your permitted occupancy.

Documents You Need to Upload

The document pack for an HMO licence application is the same core set as selective licensing, plus some HMO-specific items:

• Proof of identity (passport or driving licence) and Land Registry title extracts
• Current Gas Safety Record (annual)
• Satisfactory EICR (within last five years)
• EPC at minimum E rating (or valid exemption)
• Fire Risk Assessment and, for larger HMOs, alarm and emergency lighting test certificates
• Scaled floor plans with the dimensions and details listed above
• Interested party notifications (mortgage lenders, freeholders, joint owners)
• Fit and proper person declaration

The portal won't accept an application as "duly made" if any required document is missing. And an application that isn't duly made doesn't protect you from prosecution.

The Application Process

Applications go through the same Nottingham City Council MyAccount licensing portal used for selective licensing. You'll identify the applicant, proposed licence holder, and proposed manager — the same three-party structure.

Pay the Part A fee (£697) at submission. The council reviews your application, runs the fit and proper person assessment, and may schedule a property inspection. When they're satisfied, they issue a Notice of Intention to Grant and request the Part B payment. The licence is issued once Part B clears.

The Article 4 / Planning Trap

Nottingham has a citywide Article 4 Direction that removes permitted development rights for changing a dwelling (Use Class C3) to a small HMO (Use Class C4). This means converting a family home into a shared house requires planning permission as well as an HMO licence.

Crucially, getting an HMO licence doesn't give you planning consent. They're separate legal regimes. If you apply for an HMO licence without the requisite C4 or Sui Generis planning permission, the council will typically grant only a restricted 12-month licence instead of the standard five years. The full fee is still payable, and no refund is given if planning is ultimately refused.

Check your property's planning status before applying for an HMO licence. Retrospective planning permission is rarely granted in areas with high HMO concentration.

Our Nottingham landlord licensing guide includes a document pre-submission audit checklist and a room measurement worksheet designed specifically for HMO floor plan preparation, so nothing gets rejected at the portal stage.

See more England guides →