How to Check Which Southwark Property Licence You Need Without Contacting the Council

You can determine which property licence your Southwark rental needs without phoning or emailing the council. For most properties, it comes down to how many people live there and which ward it is in; qualifying converted buildings also need a separate Section 257 check. A ward-first classification test takes about 15 minutes with the council's interactive map and the statutory occupancy definitions — and it gives you a definitive answer for all three of Southwark's licensing schemes.

The reason most landlords contact the council is not that the rules are hidden. It is that the rules are spread across separate pages, and without a framework to connect them, the classification question feels harder than it is.

The Three Schemes and What Triggers Each One

Southwark runs three property licensing schemes simultaneously. For an ordinary private rental, the first-pass local licensing result is one of four categories; statutory exemptions and Section 257 building licences can add further checks:

Mandatory HMO Licence — applies borough-wide if the property is occupied by five or more people forming two or more separate households who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. The five-person, two-household threshold is a national rule under Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004. No ward check is needed. Fee: £1,653.50 for up to five lettings, plus £110 per additional letting.

Additional HMO Licence — applies borough-wide to a standard small HMO occupied by three or four people forming two or more separate households who share facilities. It also covers qualifying flats in purpose-built blocks and qualifying Section 257 converted buildings (see Step 3). This is Southwark's local scheme under the Additional Licensing Designation 2022, running until 28 February 2027. Standard small HMO fee: £1,433 total (£1,017.50 Part A, £415.50 Part B).

Selective Licence — applies if the property is let to a single household (or one or two unrelated tenants) and is located in one of Southwark's 19 designated selective licensing wards, unless a statutory exemption applies. Does not apply in the four exempt wards. Fee: £945 total (£661.50 Part A, £283.50 Part B).

No licence required — the property is let to a single household in one of the four exempt wards: Borough & Bankside, Dulwich Village, North Bermondsey, or St George's. Standard private rented sector safety obligations still apply.

The Ward-First Classification Test

You can run this test yourself in three steps. No council involvement is needed until you submit the actual application.

Step 1: Count occupants and households

Count every person who lives in the property as their main or only home. Then determine how many separate households they form. Under Section 258 of the Housing Act 2004, a household is a single person, a cohabiting couple (married or unmarried), or a family unit (parents and children). Friends sharing under a joint tenancy are separate households if they are not a couple or family — this is the most common classification mistake in Southwark.

• Five or more people, two or more households → mandatory HMO. Skip to "What comes next" below.
• Three or four people, two or more households → additional HMO. Skip to "What comes next."
• One or two people, or a single household → move to Step 2.

Step 2: Check the ward

Open Southwark Council's interactive ward boundary map (available on the council website). Enter your property's full address. The map returns the electoral ward the property sits in.

Compare the ward against the designated list:

Designations 1 & 2 (active until 1 March 2027): Champion Hill, Faraday, Goose Green, Newington, St Giles.

Designations 3 & 4 (active until 31 October 2028): Camberwell Green, Chaucer, Dulwich Hill, Dulwich Wood, London Bridge and West Bermondsey, North Walworth, Nunhead & Queens Road, Old Kent Road, Peckham, Peckham Rye, Rotherhithe, Rye Lane, South Bermondsey, Surrey Docks.

Exempt wards (no selective licensing): Borough & Bankside, Dulwich Village, North Bermondsey, St George's.

• Property in one of the 19 designated wards → selective licence required.
• Property in one of the four exempt wards → no licence required.

Step 3: Check for Section 257 overlap

If you own a building converted into self-contained flats, less than two-thirds of which are owner-occupied, and the conversion work failed to comply with the Building Regulations 1991 (or later updated standards), the building structure itself needs an additional HMO licence at £0 under Section 257 of the Housing Act 2004. This is a separate obligation from the individual flat licences. If individual flats inside that building are let as single-household rentals in designated selective wards, each flat needs its own selective licence at £945.

This two-layer rule is the most common trap for owners of converted properties. The £0 building licence does not cover the individual flats.

Common Mistakes That Lead to the Wrong Scheme

Counting the tenancy agreement instead of the occupants. A single joint tenancy signed by three unrelated friends creates an HMO under the statutory household test. The number of tenancy agreements is irrelevant — what matters is how many separate households live in the property.

Using the postcode to check the ward. Royal Mail postcodes do not align with Southwark's electoral ward boundaries. A postcode can span two or more wards. Always use the council's interactive map with the full street address.

Assuming no licence is needed because the property is a flat. Southwark's selective licensing applies to all residential lettings in designated wards — houses and flats. The three-storey rule for mandatory HMO licensing was abolished nationally in 2018. Flat or house, the occupancy and ward tests are the same.

Confusing additional and mandatory HMO. Both are HMO licences, but the thresholds are different (3–4 occupants vs 5+), the fees are different (£1,433 vs £1,653.50+), and the conditions differ. Applying for the wrong one loses the non-refundable Part A fee.

When You Might Still Need the Council

The classification test handles the vast majority of Southwark properties. Three situations may need direct council input:

1. Ward boundary properties — the interactive map shows your property exactly on a ward line, and you cannot determine which side it falls on.
2. Complex household arrangements — live-in carers, adult children returning home, or tenants with dual residences where the household count is genuinely ambiguous.
3. Disputed building classification — whether a converted building meets the Section 257 definition when the conversion records are missing or unclear.

For everything else — and that is the majority of single-household and shared-house lettings in Southwark — the ward-first test gives you a definitive answer in 15 minutes.

Going from Classification to Application

Once you know which licence you need, the next step is assembling the documents, calculating the fees, and preparing the portal submission. The Southwark landlord licensing guide includes the ward-first classification framework, a document verification checklist, a two-stage fee calculator with the Gold Standard discount, and offline worksheets for every portal question — so you complete the entire application on paper before opening a live session.

Who This Is For

• Landlords who have heard they need a licence but are not sure which of the three Southwark schemes applies
• Self-managing landlords who want to confirm the classification themselves before paying anyone
• Landlords whose letting agents told them a licence is needed but did not specify which one
• Property owners in Southwark who want a quick, self-serve check before committing to an application

Who This Is NOT For

• Landlords who already know their scheme and need help with the application itself (see the application walkthrough)
• Properties with complex mixed-use or commercial elements that fall outside residential licensing
• Landlords outside Southwark — each London borough runs its own schemes with different ward designations

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I just phone the council to ask which licence I need?

You can, but the council's licensing team handles a high volume of enquiries for the entire borough, and response times vary. The ward-first classification test uses the same information the council would check — ward location and occupancy — so you get the same answer without waiting. If your case is genuinely ambiguous (a boundary property or an unusual household arrangement), a call is reasonable.

What if my property is in a designated ward but I only let to one person?

A single-person letting in a designated ward still needs a selective licence unless an exemption applies. The selective scheme covers private residential lettings in the 19 designated wards. Exemptions include resident landlords sharing living accommodation with no more than two lodgers; non-commercial tenancies to family members; accommodation managed by public bodies, local authorities, registered social housing providers, or NHS health trusts; higher-education student accommodation managed directly by the institution; and holiday lets or temporary emergency housing placements.

Does the classification change if I add or remove a tenant?

Yes. If a selective-licensed property goes from two tenants to three unrelated tenants forming separate households, it crosses the additional HMO threshold. The property falls under the additional HMO scheme, with different fees and conditions; contact Southwark about how to transition the existing licence. Check the classification whenever the occupancy changes.

What happens if I apply for the wrong scheme?

The Part A processing fee is non-refundable once processing has commenced. For a selective application that should have been additional HMO, that is £661.50 lost. For a mandatory application that should have been additional, it is £1,157.50. You may need to apply again under the correct scheme, and the processing fee does not come back. Running the classification test before you apply avoids this.

How often do the ward designations change?

Southwark's selective designations have fixed expiry dates: Designations 1 and 2 run until 1 March 2027, Designations 3 and 4 until 31 October 2028. The additional HMO designation runs until 28 February 2027. The council can renew, modify, or add designations through a public consultation process. The mandatory HMO scheme is national and has no expiry.

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