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Licensing in Adur

Adur has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

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Check an address in Adur

We'll match the postcode to its ward and the schemes below.

Licensing, ward by ward

Select a ward to see its name and licensing.

  • National rules only14

Current ward boundaries from ONS. Some homes are exempt, so check your postcode and the scheme details below.

Selective licensing
None
Additional HMO licensing
No
Article 4 on house shares
None found
Consultation
None open

Licensing schemes

  • Mandatory HMO licence

    In force

    Mandatory HMO licensing (national scheme, Adur & Worthing fees)

    Area

    The whole of Adur District (national scheme). Adur and Worthing councils share a Private Sector Housing team and website.

    Fee

    Published standard fee: £810

    Fees for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 on the council HMO page: fee on application £810 (non-refundable) for 5 bedrooms or fewer, plus £55 for each unit over five (worked examples: £920 for a 7-bed shared house, £975 for 8 bedsits, £1,140 for 5 bedsits plus 6 self-contained flats). A second 'fee on grant of licence' is payable within 1 month of approval; the page lists it as £485 in the fee list but also says it 'is fixed at £470 per licensed property'. The £810 standard figure is the application part only. Fees rise each April.

    Who needs one
    HMOs where five or more persons live as more than one household, some or all share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities, and at least one person pays rent (council HMO page).
    Exemptions
    The council page says some purpose-built flats in certain buildings may be exempt and asks landlords to contact the Private Sector Housing team before applying.
    Apply on the council’s website
    How we checked this

    Licences are usually valid for five years and the council can shorten the period. The public register of licensed HMOs is available by email from private.sectorhousing@adur-worthing.gov.uk. Failing to apply 'is a criminal offence and can result in a civil penalty or an unlimited fine'.

    Sources

Article 4 for house shares

We found no Article 4 direction on house shares in Adur.

Council source

Civil penalty policy

The council's policy sets how it decides the size of a fine.

The most recent policy found is the Adur & Worthing Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy revised in 2017 to add Housing and Planning Act 2016 civil penalties and extended rent repayment orders (Joint Strategic Committee report, 10 October 2017, agenda item 9, which said the policy would be operational from 1 December 2017 and 'updated every 3 years'). No later or Renters' Rights Act 2025 revision was found in a search of the councils' committee documents.

Adur's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched Adur.

Not yet confirmed

We could not settle these points when we researched Adur. Check them with the council before you rely on them.

  • Not yet confirmed

    No selective or additional licensing scheme, proposal or consultation for Adur was found on the council HMO page or in the joint councils' committee document search (searches for 'selective licensing' and 'additional licensing', 26 October 2026). The only discretionary licensing item is the Worthing-only selective licensing proposal (Worthing Joint Strategic Sub-Committee, 14 March 2024, three Worthing wards), which does not cover Adur. Absence is inferred, not stated by the council.

  • Not yet confirmed

    The HMO page gives two different 'fee on grant of licence' figures (£485 and £470); confirm the current amount with the council.

  • Not yet confirmed

    Locate any current Adur & Worthing private sector housing enforcement / civil penalty policy later than the 2017 revision, and whether it has been revised for the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (a councils' Renters' Rights Act page quoted by the original research, with £7,000 and £40,000 figures, could not be located for re-checking).

  • Not yet confirmed

    Absence of an HMO Article 4 direction rests on the council's Article 4 directions page (nine Adur directions, all site- or conservation-area-specific; the page does not state which rights each removes, and the individual PDFs were not opened) and the matching planning.data.gov.uk list.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Adur is in South East, where registration is planned from 15 March 2027 to 14 June 2027. The regulations are still in draft. Read about the register