Council licensing in South East

Licensing in Brighton and Hove

Brighton and Hove has selective licensing in 4 wards and additional HMO licensing across the whole council area. A selective scheme in 2 wards is approved.

Checked 15 Oct 2026

Check an address in Brighton and Hove

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.

Selective licensing area4
May be covered: check the council's map19

Additional HMO licensing also covers the whole council area.

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

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

Licensing schemes

Selective licence
In forceMedium confidence
Brighton & Hove City Council Selective Licensing 2024 — four wards
Area
The four whole wards in paragraph 4/Annex A of the 2024 designation. Council wording “Kemp Town” and “Queens Park” is normalised to current ONS Kemptown and Queen's Park.
4 wards named in the scheme:
Kemptown
Moulsecoomb & Bevendean
Queen's Park
Whitehawk & Marina
Ward boundaries: 2023 wards
Runs
2 September 2024 to 31 August 2029
Fee
Published standard fee: £740
Current official fee page fetched on 15 October 2026: £740 (£518 Part A on application +£222 Part B within 10 working days of approval); £665 one eligible£75 discount; £590 two discounts; £840 late after more than 28 days unlicensed, no late discounts. Discounts for eligible accreditation/Propertymark licence holders, energy-efficiency criteria or registered charity, maximum£150. Same-owner/manager block with same licence holder: from secondflat£50 reduction and one further£75 discount if eligible; no double discount on multi-dwelling rate. Fees are not prorated.
Who needs one
Private rentals to one occupier, two occupiers or a family, and single-storey flats/bungalows with 3–4 unrelated occupiers outside mandatory/additional HMO licensing. Individual flats within section 257 buildings may require a selective licence; the converted block itself is not an additional-HMO licence.
Exemptions
Homes required to be licensed under mandatory or additional HMO licensing; registered-social-landlord tenancies; interim/final management orders; temporary exemptions; other exempt tenancies under the Housing Act 2004 and Selective Licensing of Houses (Specified Exemptions) (England) Order 2006, including qualifying holiday, family, resident-landlord and long-lease cases. Confirm the exact statutory exemption for the property.
Apply on the council’s website Licence conditions Council's map or designation
How we checked this
Approved 13 March 2024; notice signed 19 March 2024. Paragraph 3 says “will cease to have effect on 1 September 2029”; last day 31 August 2029 under dataset cease-date convention. Guidance instead says 2 September 2024 to 1 September 2029; confirm final operative day. Licensing is separate from the paused 2026 Regency/Central Hove expansion. Historical£30,000/12-month-RRO/section 21 text in the 2024 notice is not treated as current law; use the adopted 2026 enforcement policy.
Sources
Additional HMO licence
In forceMedium confidence
Brighton & Hove City Council Additional HMO Licensing 2024
Area
Entire Brighton & Hove City Council administrative area, as stated in paragraph 4 and Annex A of the 2024 designation. This is housing licensing, not the planning Article 4 geography. Only qualifying HMOs of two or more storeys with three or four occupants are included.
Runs
1 July 2024 to 29 June 2029
Fee
Published standard fee: £883
Current council fee page fetched on 15 October 2026: single tenancy 3–4 occupants £883 (£808 with one eligible£75 discount; £733 with two); late£995. Multiple tenancies 3–4 £1,127 (£1,052/£977 discounted); late£1,193. Maximum discount£150 for eligible accreditation/Propertymark, energy efficiency or registered-charity criteria. No late discounts. Part A paid on application, Part B within 10 working days of approval. No published Part A/B cash split established in this HMO page. Earlier proposed£800/£1,020 figures are superseded.
Who needs one
HMOs of two or more storeys with three or four occupiers, meeting the Housing Act 2004 standard, self-contained-flat or converted-building test, or subject to an HMO declaration. Section 257 converted blocks of flats are excluded as buildings. A single-storey HMO flat with 3–4 occupants may instead need selective licensing within a selective area.
Exemptions
Mandatory-licensable HMOs, interim/final management orders, temporary exemptions and Schedule 14 buildings which are not HMOs for licensing. Section 257 buildings excluded, though an individual flat can independently require an HMO/selective licence according to its own occupation/storeys.
Apply on the council’s website Licence conditions Council's map or designation
How we checked this
Approved 13 March 2024; notice signed 19 March 2024. Notice paragraph 3 says “will cease to have effect on 30 June 2029”; last day recorded 29 June 2029 under dataset cease-date convention. Current HMO guidance instead says scheme runs to 30 June 2029; exact operative last day requires clarification. Licence runs from application until scheme end, not necessarily a new five-year period. Official 1 July 2024 news confirms previous citywide five-year scheme ended 2023; it is outside the previous 12 months and not represented as currently in force. No newer optional scheme ending since 15 October 2025 was identified. Geographical scope remains citywide. The explicit property eligibility check preserves uncertainty because the public checker does not collect storeys or building-configuration details.
Sources
Mandatory HMO licence
In force
Mandatory HMO licensing
Area
Entire Brighton & Hove City Council area for mandatory housing licensing; the separate Article 4 planning direction excludes the South Downs National Park.
Fee
Published standard fee: £906
Current council fee page fetched on 15 October 2026, no fee-year printed: single-tenancy new fees for 5/6–8/9–11/12–14 occupants £906/£927/£950/£972; renewals £740/£750/£763/£773. More than 14: new +£22 per up-to 3 additional occupants, renewal +£12. Multiple-tenancy/bedsit new fees for 5/6–8/9–11/12–14 tenancies £1,137/£1,314/£1,469/£1,623; renewals £927/£950/£960/£983; above 14 new +£29, renewal +£16 per up-to 3 additional occupants. Base £906 is the five-occupant single-tenancy new application, not a flat fee. £75 eligible accreditation/Propertymark, energy-efficiency or charity discounts, maximum two (£150). Late fees apply after more than 28 days unlicensed operation; no late discounts. Fee paid in two parts, Part A at application and Part B within 10 working days of approval. Current tables supersede old proposed 2023/24 figures.
Who needs one
HMOs occupied by five or more people forming more than one household and sharing kitchen, bathroom or toilet facilities, irrespective of storeys.
Apply on the council’s website Licence conditions
How we checked this
Fit-and-proper declarations, property suitability and management standards apply. Housing licence and planning permission are separate. The primary current guidance and conditions were retrieved via Exa public-page extraction because native requests to the main site hit 403/self-redirect loops. Mandatory individual licence duration not established in the retrieved current guidance; left null.
Sources
Selective licence
Approved, not started
Regency and Central Hove Selective Licensing 2026 — commencement paused
Area
Two whole wards designated 6 July 2026: Regency and Central Hove, as in paragraph 4/Annex A of the 2026 notice. Commencement paused; these wards are not treated as part of the active 2024 selective scheme.
2 wards named in the scheme:
Regency
Central Hove
Ward boundaries: 2023 wards
Fee
Published standard fee: £740
Current general selective-licence fee table is£740 (£518+£222), discounted£665/£590 and late£840. This is not evidence that paused-scheme applications are presently due or open; council has paused introduction and landlord events, with no replacement application/start timetable given.
Who needs one
If commenced, private rented homes within the two wards other than homes already within mandatory/additional HMO licensing or exempt tenancies. Includes individual single-household flats and single-storey 3–4 person HMO flats in section 257 buildings. Commencement is currently paused.
Exemptions
Homes required to be licensed under mandatory or additional HMO licensing; registered-social-landlord tenancies; interim/final management orders; temporary exemptions; other exempt tenancies under the Housing Act 2004 and Selective Licensing of Houses (Specified Exemptions) (England) Order 2006, including qualifying holiday, family, resident-landlord and long-lease cases. Confirm the exact statutory exemption for the property.
Scheme details on the council’s website Licence conditions Council's map or designation
How we checked this
Designation made 6 July 2026 following 2024 approval. Its original intended commencement was 20 October 2026 and it says “will cease to have effect at midnight on 19 October 2031”. The newer official 9 October 2026 announcement and current selective landing page expressly say the introduction is paused pending review of a legal challenge; landlord engagement events postponed. No revised commencement, revocation or quashing decision was located. Start/end left null to prevent automatic promotion to an active scheme or invention of a revised period. Nominal original dates retained only in this note. approved_not_started is the existing schema status for this approved, uncommenced designation; “paused” is not a separate enum.
Sources

Article 4 for house shares

Brighton and Hove has an Article 4 direction on HMOs (houses in multiple occupation, or shared houses). Turning a family home into a shared house may need planning permission.

Area: Citywide except land within the South Downs National Park: C3-to-C4 small-HMO changes require planning permission from 3 June 2020. This replaced the 2013 direction in the then wards Hanover and Elm Grove, Hollingdean and Stanmer, Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, Queen’s Park, St Peter’s and North Laine. Those historical wards are not used as current geographical limits. The 16 January 2020 decision approved confirmation; the council announcement of 5 May 2020 confirms commencement on 3 June 2020 and expressly excludes the National Park: https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/news/2020/planning-restrictions-hmos-set-be-extended-across-city-0 .
Takes effect: 3 Jun 2020

Council source

Civil penalty policy

The council's policy sets how it decides the size of a fine. The version we found has been updated for the Renters' Rights Act.

Cabinet 23 April 2026 adopted the amended Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy from 1 May 2026; decision portal separately says effective 2 May 2026 (after call-in). Primarydecision democracy.brighton-hove.gov.uk . Appendix 4 addresses RRA2025 and other housing legislation; failure to license selective starting point£12,000 and HMO£17,000 with landlord-type adjustment and mitigation/aggravation, statutory maximum£40,000. Do not reuse historic enforcement maxima from 2024 notices. No later superseding policy located.

Brighton and Hove's civil penalty policy

Consultations

2023–24 discretionary licensing consultation — approved citywide additional/four-ward selective and further 13-ward selective optionApproved
Closed 3 Jan 2024

Not yet confirmed

We could not settle these points when we researched Brighton and Hove on 15 October 2026. Check them with the council before you rely on them.

Not yet confirmed
Clarify operative final days of the 2024 schemes: additional notice says ceaseon 30 June 2029; selective notice says ceaseon 1 September 2029. Datasetstrictcease-date convention yields 29 June 2029 and 31 August 2029, while council guidance displays 30 June/1 September. Signed notices quoted in notes.
Not yet confirmed
Monitor the legal challenge and obtain any revised commencement, revocation or quashing notice for Regency/Central Hove. Original 20 October 2026 must not be used as current start; official 9 Octoberannouncement and current landing page confirm pause. No replacement date published.
Not yet confirmed
Clarify progress on the remaining 11 wards in the 2024 approval for a further 13-ward selective scheme: Brunswick&Adelaide, Goldsmid, Hanover&Elm Grove, Hollingdean&Fiveways, Preston Park, Rottingdean&West Saltdean, Round Hill, South Portslade, West Hill&North Laine, Westbourne&Poets Corner, Wish. Only Regency/Central Hove received the retrieved 2026 designation and those two are paused; the 2024 policy approval is not presented as an active 13-ward designation.
Not yet confirmed
Confirm individual mandatory HMO licence duration and any current shorter-term policy in the issued licence; no duration inferred from national maximum.
Not yet confirmed
Native primary main-site HTML requests hit self-redirect loops. Current council notices, pause announcement, guidance and fees were independently re-fetched through Exa public-page extraction; committee decisions/policies/PDFs were directly fetched HTTP 200. No fee year is printed on the current HMO fee page.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Brighton and Hove 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