Westminster HMO licence costs £1,318 for 5 years. Properties with 5+ occupants need a mandatory licence. Avoid fines up to £30,000.
Westminster HMO licensing requires a mandatory licence for any property rented to 5 or more people forming 2 or more households. Miss that requirement and you face not just a financial penalty but a Rent Repayment Order covering up to 12 months of rent. That single exposure point — the 5-person, 2-household threshold — is the number every Westminster landlord must build into their property management process before a single tenancy agreement is signed.
What Triggers HMO Licensing in Westminster?
Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England under the Housing Act 2004 as amended by the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Mandatory Conditions) (England) Regulations 2018. In Westminster, as elsewhere in England, the trigger is a property occupied by 5 or more persons forming at least 2 separate households, where those occupants share at least one basic amenity such as a kitchen or bathroom. Storeys are no longer a qualifying factor following the 2018 changes, meaning a single-storey flat housing 5 unrelated people now falls within the mandatory scheme.
Westminster City Council additionally operates a Selective Licensing scheme in designated wards, which can capture smaller properties let to as few as 1 or 2 households in specific postcodes. Landlords must therefore run a dual check: mandatory HMO licensing for the 5-person threshold, and selective licensing if the property sits within a designated area. Scheme boundaries were last reviewed in 2022 and selective designations typically run for 5 years before renewal, so confirm current coverage directly with the council before assuming a property falls outside scope.
What Does an HMO Licence Cost in Westminster?
Westminster City Council charges a standard mandatory HMO licence fee of £1,318 for a 5-year licence. This is a non-refundable fee payable in full at application. Unlike some boroughs that split the fee into an application stage and a grant stage, Westminster processes the full amount upfront, meaning there is no partial refund if an application is refused.
Selective licences in Westminster carry a separate fee structure; as of the current scheme, these are priced at £600 for a 5-year term. Landlords holding properties that require both a mandatory HMO licence and fall within a selective licensing zone will need separate licences for each qualifying property, with each fee applying independently. An accreditation discount of approximately 10% is available to members of recognised landlord accreditation schemes such as the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme (LLAS), bringing the mandatory HMO fee to around £1,186 for eligible applicants.
How Do You Apply for an HMO Licence in Westminster?
All applications are submitted through Westminster City Council's online licensing portal. There is no paper-based route. The process requires the applicant to create an account, complete a property profile covering room sizes (each room used as sleeping accommodation must meet the minimum 6.51 square metres for a single adult), and declare all relevant parties including the proposed licence holder, any managing agent and all owners with a legal interest in the property.
Westminster processes straightforward applications within 8 weeks from receipt of a complete submission. Incomplete applications can stall this clock, and the council will issue a formal request for further information with a 28-day response window before treating an application as withdrawn. Licences are not granted retrospectively, so the 5-year term begins from the date of issue, not the date the HMO was first occupied.
What Documents Do You Need?
Before submitting, gather the following: a valid gas safety certificate (renewed annually, so must be in date at time of submission), an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) valid for no more than 5 years, energy performance certificate, fire risk assessment, and proof of current buildings insurance. You will also need floor plans showing room dimensions with measurements, as Westminster requires verification that sleeping rooms meet the 6.51 square metre single occupancy minimum and 10.22 square metre minimum for double occupancy.
Smoke alarm installation must comply with the mandatory HMO conditions: a detector in every room used as sleeping accommodation and on every floor. Carbon monoxide detectors are required in any room with a fixed combustion appliance. Westminster inspectors cross-reference submitted documents against physical inspections, typically carried out within the first 6 months of a new licence being granted.
What Happens If You Don't Have a Licence?
Operating an HMO in Westminster without a licence is a criminal offence under Section 72 of the Housing Act 2004 and also triggers civil penalty powers under the Housing and Planning Act 2016. Civil penalties of up to £30,000 per offence can be imposed without prosecution, and Westminster City Council has used these powers. A conviction on indictment carries an unlimited fine.
Beyond the direct penalty, any tenant or former tenant who occupied the property during the unlicensed period can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a Rent Repayment Order covering up to 12 months of rent. On a property generating £3,000 per month, that represents a potential £36,000 exposure on top of any council penalty. The council can also issue an Interim Management Order, effectively transferring control of the property to the council for up to 12 months while the landlord remains liable for mortgage payments and repair obligations.
A conviction for operating an unlicensed HMO also triggers a mandatory entry onto the Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker database, which is publicly searchable and can affect a landlord's ability to obtain licences across all London boroughs going forward.
What This Means for Westminster Landlords
Westminster sits within one of the most actively enforced housing compliance environments in England. The council's housing enforcement team processed over 200 licence applications in the 12 months following the 2018 mandatory threshold changes, and penalty notice activity has increased each year since 2020. Landlords managing 1 property at the 5-person threshold face the same licensing obligations as those with a portfolio of 20, and the documentation requirements are identical at every scale.
The practical priority is a two-step property audit: confirm whether the 5-person mandatory threshold applies, then confirm whether selective licensing covers the postcode. Running this check before occupation prevents the unlicensed period that creates Rent Repayment Order exposure. Licence applications should be submitted at least 8 weeks before a new tenancy commences, accounting for the council's standard processing window.
