Landlord Licence in Hornchurch, Upminster, Rainham and Harold Wood

Havering's property licensing rules depend on exactly where your rental sits and who lives in it. Hornchurch, Upminster, Rainham and Harold Wood are all within the London Borough of Havering, but they fall under different ward designations — and that determines whether you need a selective licence, an HMO licence, or no local property licence at all.

How Havering's Licensing Map Works

Havering runs three licensing schemes under the Housing Act 2004. Two of them — mandatory HMO licensing and additional HMO licensing (Scheme 3) — apply across all 20 wards in the borough. The third — selective licensing (Scheme 2) — applies only in seven designated wards.

If your property is a shared house with 3+ tenants from 2+ households, you need an HMO licence regardless of which part of Havering it sits in. The question of wards only matters for single-household lets: a flat rented to one person, a couple, or a family.

Hornchurch

Hornchurch spans several post-2022 wards. Parts of what residents call "Hornchurch" fall within Squirrels Heath and St Albans — both designated selective licensing wards. Other parts sit in Elm Park or Hacton, which are not currently designated.

If your single-household rental or let to one or two unrelated occupants is in the Squirrels Heath or St Albans ward, you need a selective licence. If it is in a non-designated Hornchurch ward, no selective licence is required for those lets. The only way to confirm is to check the specific property address using the council's online address lookup tool or the designated ward map.

Do not rely on postcodes alone. Postcodes in outer London regularly cross ward boundaries — two properties on the same street can fall in different wards with different licensing obligations.

Upminster

Upminster's residential areas fall primarily within wards that are not designated for selective licensing under Scheme 2. A single-household let or let to one or two unrelated occupants in Upminster typically does not need a selective licence.

However, every HMO in Upminster still requires either an additional HMO licence (3–4 occupants from 2+ households, Scheme 3, borough-wide) or a mandatory HMO licence (5+ occupants from 2+ households). These apply across all 20 wards regardless of selective licensing designations.

If you own a converted Victorian house near Upminster station that has been split into bedsits or shared rooms, it almost certainly qualifies as an HMO and needs licensing. Check which type applies.

Rainham

Rainham falls within the Rainham and Wennington ward, which is one of the seven designated selective licensing wards. A private rental in this ward that is not exempt needs a licence — a selective licence for single-household lets or lets to one or two unrelated occupants, or the appropriate HMO licence for a larger shared property.

The selective licence fee for Rainham and Wennington is the same as for all designated wards: £950 standard (Part A £570, Part B £380), with discounts available for accredited landlords (£100 off) and properties with an EPC rating of C or higher (£75 off). Full breakdown: Havering licence fees.

Harold Wood

Harold Wood is a designated selective licensing ward. Like Rainham and Wennington, a private rental in Harold Wood that is not exempt needs a licence. If you rent to a single tenant, a couple, a family, or up to two unrelated occupants, you need a selective licence. If the property is shared by 3 or more tenants from separate households, you need an additional or mandatory HMO licence instead — the HMO licence supersedes selective licensing in the statutory hierarchy.

Harold Wood was not part of the original 2021–2026 selective licensing scheme (which covered only Brooklands and Romford Town), so many landlords in the area were caught off guard when the expanded Scheme 2 designations came into force on 18 March 2026. Applications opened on 25 January 2026, and there is no statutory grace period — any property that was licensable from 18 March 2026 without a duly-made application is technically unlicensed.

The statutory maximum civil penalty is £30,000 for offences committed before 1 May 2026 and £40,000 for offences committed on or after that date. Tenants can also apply for a Rent Repayment Order: the maximum is 12 months' rent for offences before 1 May 2026 and 24 months for offences on or after that date. Even for a single-property landlord who cooperates fully, the penalty framework starts well above zero.

Confirm Before You Assume

Ward boundaries in Havering were redrawn in May 2022. Street names and local area names do not always align with current ward designations. The only reliable way to determine which licensing scheme applies is to enter the full property address into the council's lookup tool or contact the licensing team at [email protected].

Our Havering landlord licensing guide covers the application process, documents, fees and conditions for all three schemes — with a compliance tracker to keep everything on schedule regardless of which ward your property falls in.

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