Council licensing · London
Licensing in Bromley
Bromley has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.
Researched 14 October 2026 · Independently checked 14 October 2026
Check a specific address in Bromley
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.
- National rules only22
Current ONS ward boundaries. Exemptions apply. Use the postcode check and scheme details for your property.
- Selective licensing
- None
- Additional HMO licensing
- No
- Article 4 on house shares
- Yes
- Consultation
- None open
Licensing schemes
Mandatory HMO licence
In forceMandatory HMO licensing (Housing Act 2004 Part 2)
- Area
National scheme, applies across the whole borough. Bromley says it operates only the mandatory HMO licensing scheme.
- Fee
£2,648 for 5 years
From the council's 2026/27 fee table. Up to 5 units: Part 1 (licence administration, due with the application) £1,589 + Part 2 (licensing fee, due before grant) £1,059, totalling £2,648. Each extra unit costs £318 for Part 1 and £212 for Part 2. The total is calculated from the table. The page's dcterms:modified metadata is 2025-07-29, even though the table is labelled 2026/27. No discounts are listed.
- Who needs one
- HMOs occupied by 5 or more people forming 2 or more households, unless exempt.
- Notes
- Bromley has no additional or selective licensing scheme. On 14 Nov 2023, the Public Protection and Enforcement PDS Committee was told (report ES20331) that Bromley does not meet the statutory test for additional HMO licensing or selective licensing. No later proposal or consultation was found.
Article 4 for house shares
Bromley has an Article 4 direction on houses in multiple occupation. Turning a family home into a shared house may need planning permission.
- Area
- Borough_wide (two directions). An immediate direction covers Biggin Hill and Darwin wards; it was made on 1 Sep 2021, confirmed on 8 Feb 2022, and annotated as taking effect on 28 Feb 2022. A non-immediate direction covers all other wards and came into effect on 1 Sep 2022. Both use ward boundaries as of August 2021 and remove Class L permitted development rights in both directions (C3 to C4 and C4 to C3).
- Takes effect
- 1 September 2022
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 Private Rented Housing Enforcement Policy, published as Appendix A to a committee report in June 2021, with a £30,000 maximum. Failure to license a mandatory HMO carries a fixed £15,000 penalty. Other offences (conditions, management, licence conditions) are scored on five factors: severity, deterrence, harm to tenants, size of business (1, 2-5 or 6+ properties) and history of offending. The combined score maps to a penalty from £250 (score 15-20) to £30,000 (score 105-110). No RRA-updated policy was found, and the document fetched is the committee version, so later adopted amendments are possible.
Consultations
No consultation was recorded when we researched Bromley.
Not yet confirmed
These points were unresolved when we researched Bromley on 14 October 2026. Check them with the council before you rely on them.
- Not yet confirmed
No Renters' Rights Act-updated civil penalty policy was found. Under the new statutory guidance a published policy is needed before new-regime penalties can be issued, so Bromley may have one that is not indexed.
- Not yet confirmed
The 2021 enforcement policy fetched is the committee-report appendix. The final adopted version and any later revisions were not confirmed.
- Not yet confirmed
The Article 4 directions use ward boundaries as of August 2021. Bromley's wards changed in 2022, so the exact edge between the immediate (Biggin Hill/Darwin) and non-immediate areas follows the 2021 map. Both directions are in force, so the whole borough is covered either way.
- Not yet confirmed
No HMO licence conditions document URL was found on the council's licensing page.
- Not yet confirmed
Not independently re-checked (verification of 2026-10-14): committee report ES20331 (14 Nov 2023 PDS Committee). The council's HMO page ('Bromley only operates the Mandatory HMO Licensing Scheme') still supports the finding that there is no additional or selective scheme.
Landlord register
Licensing is separate from the national landlord register. Bromley 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