Leeds HMO Licensing: Mandatory Licences, Fees and How to Apply

When an HMO Licence Is Required in Leeds

A property in Leeds needs a mandatory HMO licence under Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004 when it meets all three conditions:

1. Five or more people live in it
2. They form two or more separate households
3. They share at least one basic amenity — kitchen, bathroom or toilet

This applies across the entire Leeds City Council area, not just the selective licensing wards. The 2018 Prescribed Description Order removed the old three-storey requirement, so a ground-floor flat with five tenants sharing a kitchen needs a licence just as much as a converted Victorian townhouse.

What About Three or Four Tenants Sharing?

Leeds does not operate an Additional HMO Licensing scheme. A shared house with three or four tenants from two or more households is classified as an HMO under the Housing Act's standard test, but it does not need an HMO licence in Leeds. If the property sits inside the selective licensing designation, it needs a selective licence instead.

The confusion between "is this an HMO?" and "does it need an HMO licence?" trips up a lot of landlords. A property can legally be an HMO without needing an HMO licence — the licence threshold in Leeds is five occupants, two households, shared facilities.

Fees

A mandatory HMO licence costs £975 (online or paper). The LRS, Unipol or NRLA accreditation discount knocks £150 off, bringing it to £825. Like selective licences, the fee is split into two stages — an upfront processing fee and a grant fee.

The Application Process

The application route is similar to selective licensing. You name an applicant, proposed licence holder and property manager; applicants and proposed managers must complete fit and proper person declarations. You upload a Gas Safety Record, EICR, EPC, fire safety risk assessment, scaled floor plans showing room dimensions in square metres, and a tenancy agreement.

Leeds Council also enforces specific room size and amenity standards for licensed HMOs:

• Room occupied by one person aged 10 or over: minimum 6.51 m²
• Room occupied by two people aged 10 or over: minimum 10.22 m²
• Shared bathroom ratio: one full bathroom for 1–4 occupants; at five, one full bathroom plus a separate toilet and wash basin (or two full bathrooms); two full bathrooms for 6–10 occupants
• Kitchen space: 3 m² per occupant for shared houses; one full cooker per three occupants

Rooms or parts of rooms with a ceiling height below 1.5 metres are excluded from the usable floor area calculation.

Licence Duration and Renewal

An HMO licence lasts up to five years. The Council does not guarantee automatic renewal reminders. Submit your renewal application within 60 days of expiry — if a complete renewal and Stage 1 fee are in before the licence expires, the existing licence is extended by operation of law while the Council processes the renewal.

The Public Register

Leeds publishes an online register of all licensed HMOs and selective-licence properties. Tenants, letting agents and prospective buyers can search it. The register updates periodically, so a recently submitted application may not appear immediately.

For a complete walkthrough of the HMO decision tree, document staging and application portal, see our Landlord Licensing in Leeds guide.

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