Lewisham Landlord Licensing — Step-by-Step Compliance Guide

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

Lewisham runs three separate property licensing schemes at the same time — selective licensing across 16 of 18 wards, additional HMO licensing borough-wide since April 2022, and mandatory HMO licensing borough-wide — and the council's information is scattered across designation notices, fee tables, portal screens and multiple web pages. 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 24 months of rent.

You've probably spent an evening bouncing between council pages, trying to work out whether your flat in Catford South needs a selective licence or an additional HMO licence, what the Part A and Part B fees are, whether your property sits in one of the 16 designated wards or the two excluded ones, and which documents the MetaStreet portal will demand before it lets you submit. The answer is out there — but nobody has put it in one place, in order.

The Lewisham Licensing Route Map

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

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 hierarchy

A five-step decision hierarchy that asks about the number of occupants, the number of households, and the ward — and tells you whether you need a mandatory HMO licence (5+ persons, 2+ households, borough-wide), an additional HMO licence (3–4 persons, 2+ households, borough-wide under the April 2022 designation), a selective licence (single household or two sharers in one of 16 designated wards), or no licence at all. No more guessing which scheme to start with.

The two excluded wards and the pre-2022 boundary trap

Lewisham's selective licensing covers 16 of 18 wards — only Blackheath and Telegraph Hill are excluded. But the council's GIS address checker uses pre-May 2022 ward boundaries, not the current electoral map, which catches landlords near boundary edges. The guide explains the exclusion, lists all 16 designated wards across the three designation notices, and shows how to verify your property's position if it sits near a boundary line.

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, dimensioned floor plans showing net room areas in square metres (ceiling below 1.5m excluded), fire risk assessments and detection certificates for HMOs, and every fit-and-proper-person disclosure — laid out in a document-preparation sequence so you can assemble the file before you open the MetaStreet 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 £640 selective fee (£160 Part A, £480 Part B), the per-unit HMO fee (£250 Part A, £250 Part B standard or £150 Part B for accredited landlords), and the LLAS accreditation discount. The guide explains which part of the fee is non-refundable, what triggers the Part B invoice, and when a shorter licence term might apply. Two worked fee examples walk through the arithmetic step by step.

Section 257 converted blocks — the critical exclusion with a catch

The converted block itself is excluded from Lewisham's additional HMO licensing scheme, but the individual flats inside it are assessed on their own internal occupation. The guide explains why this distinction matters and how to check whether your flat in a converted block still needs a selective or mandatory HMO licence.

Licence conditions and five-year tracker

What the council expects for the full licence term: annual gas safety renewals, smoke and CO alarm testing, occupancy limits, waste management records, tenant referencing and written-statement obligations, and the antisocial behaviour protocol. 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 of up to £40,000 (for offences from May 2026), prosecution with unlimited fines, Rent Repayment Orders of up to 24 months' rent, and why a pending application provides 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 Lewisham 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 or consultancy.
• Landlords whose agent handles the application but who want an independent checklist — because the licence holder, not the agent, is legally responsible for the declarations and the ongoing conditions.

Why not just use the council's website?

The council's website is free and you should use it — you need a MetaStreet portal account to submit the application anyway. What the council does not give you is a single reference that puts the three schemes side by side, tells you which one applies to your property, lists the documents in the order the portal asks for them, calculates the fee after discounts, and tracks the conditions for five years. That is what this guide does.

Compared to a letting agent's licensing service (typically £300–£600 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

• The full guide — 13 chapters covering all three licensing schemes, the application, documents, fees, conditions and enforcement (51 pages, PDF, print-ready).
• The dated compliance checklist — a 33-item summary of the steps, forms, fees and deadlines you can print and work through.
• Licensing decision hierarchy — a five-step fillable worksheet that identifies the exact licence your property needs based on occupants, households, and ward, with all 16 designated wards listed on the reverse.
• Pre-submission document checklist — every certificate, floor plan and disclosure itemised with spaces for reference numbers, expiry dates and completion status.
• Fee calculation worksheet — Part A/B split for each scheme, the accreditation discount, and two worked examples in a step-by-step calculation grid.
• Licence conditions compliance log — a printable tracker for ongoing duties: gas safety, EICR, smoke and CO alarms, tenant references, ASB incidents, waste and building security.
• Renewal calendar and key dates — scheme expiry dates, the 60-day 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 hierarchy, the document matrix, the fee worksheets and the five-year tracker — get the complete guide for .