How to Avoid Losing Your Part A Fee on a Nottingham Licence Application

The single most expensive mistake a Nottingham landlord can make during a licence application is submitting under the wrong scheme or with an expired document. Nottingham City Council's Part A fee — £290 for selective licensing, £697 for an HMO licence — is non-refundable once administrative processing has commenced, even if the application is refused or withdrawn. A landlord applying under the wrong scheme may need to submit a new application and pay its Part A fee.

This is not a theoretical risk. Nottingham runs three licensing schemes simultaneously, and the My Property NCC address checker can return "May Apply" on ward boundaries. A landlord who misclassifies a three-person shared house as selective (instead of additional HMO) or submits an application without required documents risks refusal after the Part A fee has become non-refundable.

Why Part A fees get forfeited

Nottingham uses a two-stage fee architecture. Part A is payable on application. Part B is demanded after the council issues a Notice of Intention to Grant and is payable before the licence is granted. The fee policy states that licence fees are non-refundable once administrative processing has commenced, whether the licence is refused, withdrawn or issued for a reduced term.

The four most common triggers:

Wrong scheme. The landlord classifies the property as selective when it should be additional HMO (or vice versa). This happens when the landlord counts tenants instead of households. Two couples in a two-bed flat is four people, two households — additional HMO, not selective. The fee difference is significant, and the council may refuse an application made under the wrong scheme.

Expired safety certificate. The application requires a current Gas Safety Record, a satisfactory EICR issued within the last five years, and an EPC rated at least E or a registered exemption. Check the council's current instructions for any certificate that is due to expire before the licence is determined.

Wrong ward assumption. Selective licensing only applies in designated wards. A landlord who assumes the scheme is citywide may apply for a property that does not need a selective licence. If administrative processing has commenced, the fee is non-refundable even if the application is refused or withdrawn.

Missing or incorrect floor plan. HMO applications require room measurements that meet minimum dimensions: 6.51 m² for a single room, 10.22 m² for a double. Submitting without a compliant floor plan or with measurements below the thresholds results in a query at best and a rejection at worst.

The pre-submission audit

Every Part A loss above is preventable with a structured offline check before you open the portal. The sequence matters — each step depends on the one before it.

1. Classify the property first. Count occupants, count households, check the ward. The scheme follows from those three numbers. Do not touch the portal until you know which application form you need.

2. Audit every document against the scheme's requirements. List every certificate and its expiry date. For HMO applications, add the room measurements and check the council's current file-format instructions. Confirm the Gas Safety Record is current, the EICR is satisfactory and no more than five years old, and the EPC is at least E-rated or has a registered exemption. Ask the council how to handle any certificate due to expire before the licence is determined.

3. Calculate the exact fee before paying. The fee depends on the scheme, the property size (for HMO) and whether you hold DASH accreditation. A £65 DASH online course unlocks the accredited rate; on a selective licence, the £191 fee reduction leaves £126 after the course cost. Complete the accreditation before applying so you can use the accredited rate.

4. Complete the portal fields on paper first. An incomplete form or saved draft does not satisfy the statutory "duly made" threshold. The required sections must be complete, mandatory documents attached and the Part A fee cleared. Working through the fields offline — property address, proposed licence holder, managing agent details and compliance declarations — helps you submit a complete application.

Tradeoffs

The DIY audit takes time. A first-time applicant should budget two to three hours for the classification, document check, fee calculation and field preparation. A landlord who has been through the process before can do it in under an hour.

An agent skips the audit but not the risk. Paying an agent £180+ to submit the application transfers the data-entry work but not the classification responsibility. If the agent applies under the wrong scheme, the council fee may still be non-refundable once processing has commenced; the agent's charge is separate and governed by your agreement. The audit step protects you regardless of who clicks submit.

Check before you submit. Use MyProperty or Nottingham Insight Mapping to confirm the address. If a ward boundary remains unclear, save the MyProperty result and request written confirmation from the council's Housing Licensing team before applying.

Who This Is For

• Self-managing landlords submitting a Nottingham licence application for the first time
• Landlords who had a previous application rejected and want to avoid a repeat
• Accidental landlords who are unsure which scheme applies and do not want to gamble the Part A fee on a guess
• Anyone renewing a licence under a different scheme (Scheme 2 replaced the original selective scheme in December 2023)

Who This Is NOT For

• Portfolio landlords with a compliance team that handles applications routinely
• Landlords whose properties are outside Nottingham City Council's licensing area
• Anyone looking for help with a council dispute after a rejection — that is a legal matter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get a Part A refund if the council made the error?

Licence fees are non-refundable once administrative processing has commenced, including when a licence is refused. A licensing refusal can be appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber — Residential Property) within 28 days beginning with the date the final decision or notice was served. The appeal challenges the licensing decision; the fee policy separately governs refunds.

Does the portal warn me if I pick the wrong scheme?

Confirm the scheme before applying using MyProperty or Nottingham Insight Mapping. If the address remains ambiguous, request written confirmation from the council's Housing Licensing team. The Part A fee is non-refundable once administrative processing has commenced.

What if my EICR expires during the council's processing queue?

Nottingham's application requirements call for a satisfactory EICR issued within the last five years. If yours is due to expire before the council determines the application, confirm with the Housing Licensing team what it requires before submitting.

Is there a cheaper way to verify before submitting?

The cheapest verification is doing the classification and document audit yourself. The Nottingham Landlord Licensing Guide includes a property classification flowchart, a document audit checklist with expiry tracking, and fee calculators for all three schemes — everything you need to confirm the application is correct before you pay the Part A fee.

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