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Licensing in Chichester

Chichester has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

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Check an address in Chichester

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 only21

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
Not yet confirmed
Consultation
None open

Licensing schemes

  • Mandatory HMO licence

    In force

    Mandatory HMO licensing (national scheme, Chichester fees)

    Area

    The whole of Chichester District (national scheme).

    Fee

    Published standard fee: £1,505.73

    'HMO Licence Fees 2026-2027' document linked from the council HMO page: Part 1 application fee for a 5-person base £1,013.03 plus £65.92 for each additional occupant, payable at application (non-refundable); Part 2 licence issue fee £492.70, payable within 14 days of the notice of intention to grant; licence amendment £56.48. £1,505.73 is the 5-person total of the two parts. No refund if paid for the wrong number of occupants.

    Who needs one
    Properties with five or more unrelated occupants forming two or more households who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet, regardless of the number of storeys (council HMO page and 2026-27 fee document).
    Exemptions
    The council page lists the statutory HMO exemptions: buildings occupied by only two persons forming two households, a resident landlord with up to two tenants, buildings managed or owned by public bodies, local housing authorities or registered social landlords, accommodation ancillary to a building's principal use, student halls covered by an approved code of practice, and HMOs regulated by other legislation (care homes, boarding schools, prisons and similar).
    Apply on the council’s websiteLicence conditions
    How we checked this

    The council page states: 'Chichester District Council does not run selective or additional licensing schemes.' Applications are made through the online form linked from the council HMO page ('Apply to licence a house in multiple occupation') with floor plans, EICR (within 5 years), gas safety certificate (within 1 year), fire alarm and emergency lighting test reports, tenancy agreement and fire risk assessment. Licence length is not stated on the page or in the fee document. Contact hmolicensing@chichester.gov.uk.

    Sources

Article 4 for house shares

Not yet confirmed

Whether Chichester has an Article 4 direction on house shares.

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 HMO page links the Environmental Health and Licensing Enforcement Policy 2022-2027 (cover dated 21 September 2022, version approved 28 September 2022, next programmed review September 2027) for housing standards enforcement. It is a general enforcement policy: section 2.3.8 'Financial Penalties' says only that certain offences are subject to civil penalties or fixed penalty notices where prescribed by legislation, and it contains no housing civil penalty amounts or matrix. It predates the Renters' Rights Act 2025, and no separate housing civil penalty policy was found on the council site search or in its committee document search.

Chichester's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched Chichester.

Not yet confirmed

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

  • Not yet confirmed

    The HMO licence term is not stated on the council page, in the 2026-27 fee document or in the HMO standards guidance.

  • Not yet confirmed

    No housing civil penalty matrix is published; whether a Renters' Rights Act 2025 civil penalty policy will be adopted is unknown (committee searches 'civil penalties housing' and 'Renters Rights' found only a 2025 strategic risk item).

  • Not yet confirmed

    Absence of an HMO Article 4 direction is inferred from the council's Article 4 page, which describes conservation-area directions only, and planning.data.gov.uk (no Chichester records).

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Chichester 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