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Council licensing in East of England

Licensing in Cambridge

Cambridge has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

Checked 14 Oct 2026

Check an address in Cambridge

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, Cambridge City Council fees)

    Area

    The whole of the City of Cambridge (national scheme).

    Fee

    £1,133. Early application: £1,000

    Schedule for 'all applications due from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027' (page last reviewed 14 October 2026). £1,133 in two parts: £736 with the application and £397 on grant of the licence, payable when the draft licence is issued. A full and complete renewal submitted at least eight weeks before the current licence expires pays £603 on application plus £397, £1,000 in total (shown as early_bird_gbp). Refunds after grant only in exceptional circumstances.

    Who needs one
    Properties occupied by five or more people forming two or more separate households, or a purpose-built flat in a block of up to two flats occupied as an HMO by five or more people.
    Apply on the council's website
    How we checked this

    This is the national scheme. Cambridge publishes its own page and fees. Applications and renewals go through the 3C Shared Services licensing portal (an account is needed). The council aims to process complete applications within 6 weeks and may add extra conditions to individual licences. The council publishes a register of current HMO licences and sends a weekly list of licensed HMOs to its planning enforcement team. HMOs with seven or more tenants need planning and building control permission. Cambridge has no additional or selective licensing scheme: the council's HMO page covers mandatory licensing only, and a November 2024 council motion on HMOs notes that smaller HMOs of three or four people 'do not require a license to operate'.

    Sources

Article 4 for house shares

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

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.

No civil penalty policy is published on the council's private renting pages. The only one found is the 'Guide to applying the civil penalties fee matrix, Housing Act 2004', Appendix Two to 'Fee Structure for Fixed Penalty Notices for Housing Act 2004 Offences' (Housing Scrutiny Committee, 21 September 2017, item 17/44/HSC). It sets failure to license as a fixed formula based on the Local Housing Allowance: first offence = LHA level x number of rooms + file costs; second offence = LHA level x number of rooms x 2 + file costs, 'to the maximum level of £20,000'. Other offences use a culpability and severity matrix capped at £30,000, with a 30% reduction for an early admission on a first offence. It predates the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and its £40,000 maximum. A council news release of 31 May 2023 (cambridge.gov.uk) reported a £3,528.54 Financial Penalty Notice for an unlicensed HMO.

Cambridge's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched Cambridge.

Not yet confirmed

We could not settle these points when we researched Cambridge on 14 October 2026. Check them with the council before you rely on them.

  • Not yet confirmed

    No additional or selective licensing scheme, proposal or consultation was found on the council website, its consultations page (reviewed 2 October 2026) or the democracy site. The November 2024 council motion on HMOs asked officers to report on Article 4 directions, not licensing.

  • Not yet confirmed

    The proposed non-immediate Article 4 direction for HMOs goes to Cabinet on 20 October 2026 (agenda: https://democracy.cambridge.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=532&MId=4829), with consultation proposed for November 2026. Re-check after Cabinet and add the consultation once it opens.

  • Not yet confirmed

    The current civil penalty policy is not published on the council website. The 2017 fee matrix guide was found only in committee papers; confirm whether it is still in use and whether a Renters' Rights Act update has been adopted.

  • Not yet confirmed

    The HMO licensing page does not state the licence length or link standard licence conditions.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Cambridge is in East of England, where registration is planned from 15 January 2027 to 14 April 2027. The regulations are still in draft. Read about the register