Islington Landlord Licensing — Step-by-Step Compliance Guide

You know you probably need a licence. You just can't work out which one.

Islington now runs three separate property licensing schemes at the same time — selective licensing across ten wards under two different designations, additional HMO licensing borough-wide since February 2026, and mandatory HMO licensing borough-wide — and the council's information is spread across multiple web pages, designation notices, fee tables and portal screens. The penalty for getting it wrong is a civil penalty of up to £40,000, or a Rent Repayment Order where your tenant claims back up to two years of rent.

You've probably spent an evening bouncing between council pages, trying to work out whether your property in Highbury needs a selective licence or an additional HMO licence, what "Part A" and "Part B" fees mean, which of the two selective designations applies, and which documents the portal will ask for before it lets you submit. Worse, the council's online portal is known for session timeouts and unexpected errors that lose your unsaved data mid-application. The answers are out there — but nobody has put them in one place, in order.

The Islington Licensing Route Map

This guide is a complete route map through Islington's licensing schemes — from working out which licence your property needs to tracking the conditions for the full term. It replaces the hours of council-page research with a single, step-by-step reference you can print and work through offline, before you touch the portal.

It is not legal advice, not a council publication, and not connected with any government body. It is an independent guide that organises the public rules into the order you need them.

Which licence? — answered in one decision tree

A single decision sequence that asks about your property's occupancy, household structure, building type and ward, then tells you whether you need a mandatory HMO licence (5+ persons, 2+ households, borough-wide), an additional HMO licence under the 2026 renewal (3–4 persons, 2+ households, borough-wide, plus Section 257 converted blocks), a selective licence under the 2024 scheme (Finsbury Park, Hillrise, Tollington) or the 2026 scheme (Barnsbury, Caledonian, Highbury, Junction, Laycock, Mildmay, Tufnell Park), or no licence at all. No more guessing which scheme to start with.

Two selective schemes, ten wards, seven undesignated — laid out clearly

The 2024 selective scheme covers three wards and runs to May 2029. The 2026 scheme adds seven wards from November 2026 to November 2031. Seven wards have no selective licensing at all — but a shared house in any of those wards still needs an HMO licence. The guide separates the two designations, lists every ward, and explains why postcodes alone are not reliable for checking ward boundaries.

Section 257 converted blocks — the rule most landlords miss

If you own a Victorian conversion or flats above a shop where the building work predates the 1991 Building Regulations and fewer than two-thirds of the flats are owner-occupied, the building may count as a Section 257 HMO. Islington's additional licensing scheme captures these borough-wide. The guide includes a classification workflow to determine whether your building needs a Section 257 licence, with the separate flat-rate fee of £800.

Every document, in the order the portal asks for it

Gas Safety Certificate, Electrical Installation Condition Report (no outstanding C1 or C2 codes), Energy Performance Certificate rated A to E, fire risk assessment, dimensioned floor plans showing room areas in square metres — laid out in a document-preparation checklist so you can assemble the file before you open the portal. No more submission timeouts because you didn't have the EICR to hand.

Fees, Part A/B split, and every discount you can claim

The full fee structure for all three schemes — including the £850 selective fee, the £900+ additional and mandatory HMO fees with per-bedroom surcharges, and the flat £800 Section 257 fee — with the LLAS accreditation discount (£75) and EPC A–C discount (£50). The guide explains which part of the fee is non-refundable, what triggers the Part B invoice, and how to claim up to £125 off the standard fee.

Licence conditions and compliance tracker

What the council expects for the full licence term: six-monthly property inspections, annual gas safety uploads, smoke and CO alarm testing, occupancy limits, waste management records and tenant referencing. The post-grant tracker gives you the dates and the paperwork, so a routine inspection or a licence renewal doesn't catch you off guard.

Enforcement: what actually happens if you let without a licence

Civil penalties under the Housing Act 2004, prosecution, Rent Repayment Orders of up to 24 months' rent (for offences from May 2026 under the Renters' Rights Act), and why a pending application with Part A paid is a statutory defence — explained plainly, with the council's enforcement approach and the evidence that protects you.

Who this is for

• Private landlords with a rented home or shared house in Islington who need to work out whether the property needs a licence, which one, and how to apply.
• Small or accidental landlords self-managing one or two properties who want to handle the application themselves instead of paying an agent £400–£750.
• Landlords whose existing licence was granted under an expired scheme — the 2021–2026 additional HMO scheme or the 2019–2024 selective scheme — who need to re-license under the new designations.
• Owners of converted Victorian houses or flats above shops who need to work out whether the building counts as a Section 257 HMO.

Why not just use the council's website?

The council's website is free and you should use it — you need a portal account to submit the application anyway. What the council does not give you is a single reference that puts the three schemes and two selective designations side by side, tells you which licence applies based on your ward and household count, lists the documents in the order the portal asks for them, calculates the fee after discounts, and tracks the conditions through the licence term. That is what this guide does.

Compared to an agent's licensing service (typically £400–£750 on top of the council fee), or a compliance consultancy at a similar price, this is a fraction of the cost — and you keep full control of your application and your data.

What you get

Seven PDFs, print-ready. The full guide plus five standalone worksheets you print and fill in at your desk — and the free checklist.

• The full guide — 13 chapters covering all three licensing schemes, the two selective designations, the application, documents, fees, conditions and enforcement (44 pages, PDF, print-ready).
• The dated compliance checklist — a 25-item summary of the steps, forms, fees and deadlines you can print and work through.
• Scheme decision worksheet — a fillable form that walks through your property's occupancy, household count, ward and exemptions to identify which licence you need.
• Pre-submission document checklist — every certificate, floor plan and disclosure itemised with spaces for certificate numbers, issue dates, expiry dates and completion status.
• Fee calculation worksheet — Part A/B split for each scheme, the room surcharge for mandatory HMOs, and the LLAS, EPC and renewal discounts, with a step-by-step calculation grid.
• Licence conditions compliance log — a printable tracker for ongoing duties: gas safety, EICR, smoke and CO alarms, six-monthly inspections, waste, ASB response, rent records and building security.
• Renewal calendar and key dates — scheme expiry dates, the renewal window, certificate renewal prompts and the PRS Database registration deadline.

All files cover the rules as at October 2026, with direct links to the council pages for rechecking.

Satisfaction guarantee

If the guide doesn't help, email [email protected] for a full refund, no time limit. No form to fill in, no questions.

Get started

Download the free checklist to see how the guide is structured. If you want the full route map — the decision tree, the document matrix, the fee worksheets and the compliance tracker — get the complete guide for .