Newham Property Licence Processing Time: How Long Does It Take?

You've submitted your Newham property licence application, paid the Part A fee, and received a confirmation email. Now comes the question every landlord asks: how long until the licence is actually issued?

Newham's Published Service Standard

Newham aims to tell you whether it plans to grant or refuse a licence within ten weeks of receiving a complete and valid application and fee. If the council needs more information or cannot progress the application because it needs further investigation, it says it will write within ten weeks. A 21-day consultation period follows the proposed decision before the final grant or refusal notice.

The ten-week period is a service standard, not an automatic licence grant. The time to final issue also includes the consultation period and can be affected if the council asks for additional information.

What Happens During Processing

After you submit your application and pay the Part A fee, the council works through several checks:

1. Completeness review. Are all required documents uploaded — Gas Safety Certificate, EICR, EPC, floor plans with room dimensions in square metres?
2. Fit and Proper Person assessment. The council verifies your declaration regarding unspent convictions, housing offences, and management history.
3. Scheme verification. Is the correct licence type selected for the property's occupancy and ward?
4. Interested party notifications. The portal notifies any mortgagors, freeholders, or joint owners listed in the application.

If anything is missing or unclear, the council contacts the applicant to request corrections. Each round of correspondence adds time.

The "Duly Made" Question

Your application's legal status depends on whether it's considered "duly made" — meaning all required information, documents, and fees have been provided. A duly made application gives you a statutory defence against prosecution for unlicensed letting while it's being processed.

An incomplete application — missing documents, wrong scheme selection, unsigned declarations — is not duly made. If the council rejects it as deficient, you lose the statutory defence for any period between rejection and resubmission. The Part A fee is normally non-refundable, although the council lists exceptions such as duplicate payments and applications for non-licensable properties.

What Your Application Status Means

The My Newham portal shows the application status:

• Pending: Submitted and awaiting review. You have a statutory defence if the application is complete.
• Additional information requested: The council needs something from you. Respond promptly — delays here are on the applicant.
• Approved / Part B payment requested: The council plans to grant the licence and is requesting the Part B fee; the 21-day consultation period still follows before the final grant notice.
• Issued: The licence is live and appears on the public register.

How to Speed Things Up

The single most effective thing you can do is submit a complete application the first time. Every missing document or incorrect detail creates a round trip that can add weeks.

Before hitting submit on the My Newham portal:

• Verify your Gas Safety Certificate is less than 12 months old on the date of submission
• Confirm your EICR shows "Satisfactory" with no outstanding C1, C2, or FI defects
• Check your EPC is current (valid for 10 years from the certificate date)
• Ensure floor plans show every room's dimensions in square metres, with ceiling heights noted for rooms under 1.5m

Our Newham landlord licensing guide includes a pre-submission verification checklist covering every document and field the portal requires, so your application qualifies as duly made from the start.

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