Peterborough Selective Licensing Scheme: Wards, Map and Address Checker

The Current Scheme: March 2024 to March 2029

Peterborough City Council relaunched its selective licensing scheme on 11 March 2024, running for five years until 10 March 2029. The original scheme operated from 2016 to 2021 and lapsed automatically at the end of its term — licences from that earlier period are no longer valid, and landlords who held one must apply fresh under the current designation.

Selective licensing targets privately rented properties occupied by a single household, a single person, or two unrelated sharers. It doesn't apply to HMOs with three or more tenants — those fall under the city-wide additional or mandatory HMO licensing schemes instead.

The 10 Designated Wards

The scheme covers mapped areas within these electoral wards:

1. Bretton
2. Central
3. East
4. Fletton and Stanground
5. Fletton and Woodston
6. North
7. Orton Waterville
8. Park
9. Paston and Walton
10. Stanground South

Crucially, the scheme doesn't cover every address within each ward. The designated areas are specific mapped zones, and boundary lines can run through individual streets. A property at one end of a road might need a licence while one at the other end doesn't.

Why the Ward Map Isn't Enough

Broad ward maps published during the consultation give a general picture, but they can't confirm individual addresses. Some perimeter streets — like those sitting directly on a boundary line — need an address-level check. Newly constructed streets occasionally don't appear on the original designation schedule, and buildings converted into multiple flats require each unit to be checked separately.

The reliable methods are Peterborough City Council's official online address lookup tool or checking the exact property location against the signed designation street schedule. Don't rely on postcodes alone — they cover areas that can span both sides of a licensing boundary.

What Selective Licensing Costs

The total fee is £908, split into two mandatory parts:

• Part A (application): £538, paid when you submit your application through the Home Safe portal
• Part B (compliance): £370, invoiced when the Council issues your draft licence and payable within 7 days

There are no early-bird discounts, portfolio discounts, or landlord association reductions. The fee is the same whether you apply in year one or year four of the scheme, and the licence runs only until the scheme's fixed expiry date of 10 March 2029 — not for five years from the date of grant. A late application means paying the same amount for a shorter licence.

Exemptions

Certain properties are exempt from selective licensing under Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004:

• Properties managed by a local authority, housing association, or registered social landlord
• Student accommodation owned and managed by a university
• Holiday lets, agricultural tenancies, and business tenancies
• Properties where the landlord lives in the home and has no more than 2 lodgers
• Properties under an active management order or temporary exemption notice

If none of these apply and your single-family let sits inside a designated area, you need the licence.

Getting Started

Applications go through the Home Safe portal — there's no paper form. You'll need to verify your identity through Yoti, upload compliance documents (gas safety certificate, EICR, EPC), and pay the Part A fee within 28 days of starting the application. The Peterborough Landlord Licensing Guide walks through the full Home Safe application process, document requirements, and licence conditions step by step.

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