Council licensing · London

Licensing in Barnet

Barnet has additional HMO licensing across the whole council area. A selective scheme in 10 wards is proposed.

Researched 14 October 2026 · Independently checked 14 October 2026

Check a specific address in Barnet

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

Licensing, ward by ward

Tap a ward, or focus it with your keyboard, to see its name and recorded coverage.

Additional HMO licensing area24

Additional HMO licensing also covers the whole council area.

Current ONS ward boundaries. Exemptions apply. Use the postcode check and scheme details for your property.

Selective licensing: None
Additional HMO licensing: Yes, whole council area
Article 4 on house shares: Yes
Consultation: Awaiting decision

Licensing schemes

Additional HMO licence
In force
The London Borough of Barnet Designation of an Area for Additional Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation 2022
Area
The whole geographical area of the London Borough of Barnet (map at Annex A of the designation).
Runs
27 October 2022 to 26 October 2027
Fee
£1,872 for 5 years
Fees apply from 1 Jan 2026 and are the same for mandatory and additional licences. A new 5-year licence for up to 5 units is £1,872: Fee 1 £1,061 with the application and Fee 2 £811 after the initial inspection. A 1-year licence is £1,224 (Fee 1 £1,061 + Fee 2 £162). A 5-year renewal is £1,677 (Fee 1 £866 + Fee 2 £811); a 1-year renewal is £1,028. Each unit over 5 costs £37. Accredited landlords and charities get 10% off Fee 1. The optional fast-track service costs £200. A change of licence holder requires a new application fee.
Who needs one
Two kinds of property. (1) All s254 HMOs occupied by 3 or more people forming 2 or more households that are not subject to mandatory licensing. (2) s257 HMOs (converted blocks of self-contained flats not meeting the 1991 Building Regulations) where the building is 3 or more storeys, has at least 3 flats, all flats are privately rented, and the building and flats are under the same ownership or control.
Exemptions
Schedule 14 buildings (not HMOs for licensing purposes), HMOs under interim or final management orders, HMOs with a temporary exemption notice (s62), and HMOs requiring a mandatory licence.
Notes
Barnet ran an earlier borough-wide additional scheme from 2016 to 2021. The current designation was made on 26 Jul 2022 under the 2015 General Approval. The designation gives 27 Oct 2027 as its cessation date (seen only in search-index extracts of the PDF), which is the fifth anniversary of its 27 Oct 2022 start, and the council's 2026 consultation summary says the scheme runs until 26 Oct 2027. A designation can last no more than five years, so 27 Oct 2027 is the first day it is no longer in force and end_date is 26 Oct 2027. Expiry is about 12 months away, and no renewal consultation was found. The council's HMO pages still quote pre-Renters' Rights Act penalties (up to £30,000 civil penalty and 12 months' rent repayment).
Apply on the council site Designation or map
Sources
Mandatory HMO licence
In force
Mandatory HMO licensing (Housing Act 2004 Part 2)
Area
National scheme, applies across the whole borough.
Fee
£1,872 for 5 years
Same fee table as additional licensing, applying from 1 Jan 2026: £1,872 for 5 years up to 5 units (Fee 1 £1,061 + Fee 2 £811), plus £37 per extra unit. Accredited landlords and charities get 10% off Fee 1.
Who needs one
HMOs occupied by 5 or more people in 2 or more households, where they are houses or self-contained flats sharing basic facilities, or converted buildings with a mix of self-contained and non-self-contained units.
Exemptions
See the council's HMO licensing exemptions page. Temporary exemption notices are available.
Notes
Included because the council publishes its own fee table for mandatory licences.
Apply on the council site
Sources
- barnet.gov.uk: what are houses multiple occupation hmos
- barnet.gov.uk: houses
Selective licence
ProposedMedium confidence
Proposed selective licensing scheme 2027-2032 (ten wards)
Area
Proposed coverage is all privately rented properties in the ten listed wards. West Hendon, Colindale South and Colindale North would exclude certain streets because of regeneration. The excluded streets are not listed in the summary document.
10 wards, as named in the proposal (2022 wards):
Burnt Oak
Childs Hill
Colindale North
Colindale South
Cricklewood
Finchley Church End
Friern Barnet
Golders Green
Hendon
West Hendon
Fee
£910 for 5 years
Indicative only: £910 per property, split into two parts and subject to annual review and inflation. NRLA reports '£910 or £928, subject to inflation' with accreditation discounts. The council fee page, live from 1 Jan 2026, still lists £774 (Fee 1 £388.03 + Fee 2 £385.97) for 'Selective Licensing (following designation - Burnt Oak, Colindale North and Colindale South)', the earlier scheme that never started.
Who needs one
Proposed: all privately rented houses or flats in the listed wards let to a single person, two sharers, or a single household. HMOs licensable under the mandatory or additional schemes are excluded.
Exemptions
Proposed: tenancies granted by public bodies such as housing associations, holiday homes, some business tenancies, and the other statutory exemptions.
Notes
This is not in force, so no licence is required yet. Cabinet approved a new consultation on 2 Feb 2026. The previously approved schemes never started because of IT delays: Phase 1 (Burnt Oak, Colindale North, Colindale South), recommended to Housing and Growth Committee on 17 Feb 2022 and described by the Feb 2026 report as 'previously approved', and Phase 2 (Childs Hill, Cricklewood, Edgware, Edgwarebury, Finchley Church End, Golders Green, Hendon, Mill Hill, West Finchley, West Hendon), approved by Cabinet on 12 Dec 2023 subject to Secretary of State approval. Both have been replaced by this single-phase proposal. The new ward list drops Edgware, Edgwarebury, Mill Hill and West Finchley and adds Burnt Oak, Colindale North, Colindale South and Friern Barnet. The council's selective licensing page still says 'We are currently consulting', even though the consultation closed on 15 Sep 2026.
Sources

Article 4 for house shares

Barnet has an Article 4 direction on houses in multiple occupation. Turning a family home into a shared house may need planning permission.

Area: The whole council area
Takes effect: 29 May 2016

Council source

Civil penalty policy

The council's policy sets how it decides the size of a fine. The version we found has not been updated for the Renters' Rights Act.

The latest version found is the London Borough of Barnet Enforcement and Prosecution Policy (effective 1 Apr 2023, review date Apr 2026). Appendix J (Private Sector Housing) sets a £30,000 maximum. Penalties start from a harm x culpability matrix with baselines from £750 (moderate harm, moderate culpability) to £25,000 (extreme harm, extreme culpability). The four steps are severity/harm, culpability, initial assessment, then a check against sentencing aims and the offender's means. There is a 20% discount if compliance work is done within the notice-of-intent representation period, 10% for completing London Landlord Accreditation Scheme training (30% combined). A totality reduction of up to 20% applies. The HMO page also links an older 'Enforcement policy (revised HAG February 2022)' document. No Renters' Rights Act update was found.

Barnet's civil penalty policy

Consultations

Selective licensing scheme consultation (ten wards, 2027-2032)Closed, awaiting decision
Closed 15 September 2026

Not yet confirmed

These points were unresolved when we researched Barnet on 14 October 2026. Check them with the council before you rely on them.

Not yet confirmed
Selective licensing decision: the consultation ran 15 Jun to 15 Sep 2026, and the council says feedback is due 23 Nov 2026. A Cabinet decision, designation and start date are still to come. Re-check after Nov 2026.
Not yet confirmed
Streets excluded from West Hendon, Colindale North and Colindale South because of regeneration are not listed in the summary document. They may be in the Selective Licensing Implementation Evidence Report, which was not fetched.
Not yet confirmed
Final selective fee: the consultation gives £910 indicative, NRLA reports £910 or £928, and the live fee page still shows £774 for the abandoned Phase 1 scheme.
Not yet confirmed
The additional designation PDF could not be re-read (barnet.gov.uk is bot-protected and the PDF is not archived), so its exact cessation wording was not seen. end_date 26 Oct 2027 follows the 2026 consultation summary and the five-year limit. No renewal consultation for additional licensing was found, though the scheme expires in about 12 months.
Not yet confirmed
No Renters' Rights Act-updated civil penalty policy was found. The Apr 2026 review of the 2023 Enforcement and Prosecution Policy may have produced one that is not yet indexed.
Not yet confirmed
Barnet's site is behind Imperva bot protection. Pages were read through a browser, and some older licensing pages (e.g. /HMOlicensing) now return 'Access denied'.
Not yet confirmed
No HMO licence conditions document URL was confirmed.
Not yet confirmed
Not independently re-checked (verification of 2026-10-14): barnet.gov.uk returned a bot-protection page to automated checks, so no live council page could be re-read. The 2026/27 HMO fees were re-confirmed only from the 2026-27 fees and charges appendix and a February 2026 archived copy of the fees page.
Not yet confirmed
Not independently re-checked (verification of 2026-10-14): the selective consultation start date (15 Jun 2026), the 23 Nov 2026 feedback date, the streets excluded for regeneration and the live selective page's 'currently consulting' wording.

Landlord register

Licensing is separate from the national landlord register. Barnet is in London, where the planned registration window runs from 15 July 2027 to 14 October 2027. The regulations are still in draft. Register dates, fee and documents