Licensing in Cornwall

• Mandatory HMO licence

  In force

  Mandatory HMO licensing

  Area

  Cornwall Council administrative area. Falmouth HMO Article 4 planning controls are separate and do not expand the licensing threshold.

  Fee

  Published standard fee: £1,764

  Current fee page updated 30 September 2026: new fees apply from 1 October 2026 and depend on sleeping rooms. New: 5 rooms £1,764 (£717 Part A + £1,047 Part B); 6–8 £1,869 (£717 + £1,152); 9+ £1,974 (£717 + £1,257). Renewal: 5 rooms £1,666 (£619 + £1,047); 6–8 £1,771 (£619 + £1,152); 9+ £1,876 (£619 + £1,257). £50 reduction for evidenced membership of landlord organisations, unavailable where the council discovers operation without a licence. The displayed base is the 5-sleeping-room new application, not a universal fee. No published band for fewer than five sleeping rooms was found.

  Who needs one

  HMOs occupied by five or more people forming two or more households, sharing a bathroom, toilet or kitchen. The current council application page sets out this threshold.

  Exemptions

  The council application guidance excludes university-managed student halls and buildings owned by public bodies from its HMO definition; check the statutory exemptions for the particular property.

  Apply on the council’s websiteLicence conditions
  ›How we checked this

  A valid application needs completed form, fee, current gas/electrical certificates, dimensioned floor plan and DBS/disclosure checks (first application no more than one month old; subsequent applications for a landlord/agent with more than one Cornwall HMO no more than one year old). Licence usually five years, with shorter terms in the enforcement policy: unresolved planning consent 12 months, discovered unlicensed operation initially two years, and other management/condition cases. Fees on the 2024 policy are superseded by the October 2026 fee page. No selective/additional designation, active proposal or scheme ending since 15 October 2025 was identified in the retrieved current private-housing/HMO pages, policies or targeted council/consultation/committee searches; this is a bounded research finding, not an express council assurance of absence. The Responsible Landlord Scheme is voluntary and is not a selective/additional licence. Enforcement figures and tribunal terminology on the duties page appear historical and are not treated as current national law. The current policies page also publishes February 2026 v1.8 Space and Amenity Standards for Licensable HMOs used as Homelessness Accommodation. It concerns council homelessness placements, not every settled HMO; some standards may become individual licence conditions. Publication is confirmed, but the formal adoption/commencement decision was not recovered.

  Sources

  • cornwall.gov.uk: how to apply for an hmo licence
  • cornwall.gov.uk: preparing your hmo licence application
  • cornwall.gov.uk: make your hmo application
  • cornwall.gov.uk: duties of an hmo licence holder
  • cornwall.gov.uk: private sector housing enforcement policy february 2024 (PDF)
  • cornwall.gov.uk: policies and strategies
  • cornwall.gov.uk: private housing
  • cornwall.gov.uk: cornwall responsible landlord scheme
  • cornwall.gov.uk: amenity standards for licensable hmo homelessness accommodation v18 (PDF)

Council source

Cornwall's civil penalty policy

• Review of Mandatory HMO Licence Fees — consultation closed; October 2026 fees implementedApproved

  Closed 17 Jul 2026

• Proposed Accommodation Space and Amenity Standards for HMOs used as Temporary and Emergency Accommodation — closed consultation; current council page publishes February 2026 v1.8 standards, formal decision not recoveredClosed, awaiting decision

  Closed 2 Jan 2026

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

• Not yet confirmed

  Obtain an express current council confirmation of whether any selective/additional licensing designations, approvals, consultations or schemes ending within the previous 12 months exist; targeted searches found none but do not prove absence.

• Not yet confirmed

  Confirm the current adopted RRA civil-penalty/enforcement policy and effective date. The policy currently linked by the council is February 2024; later fee guidance must take precedence over its old fee appendix.

• Not yet confirmed

  Obtain the current signed Falmouth Article 4 direction and boundary/order from Cornwall Council. The legacy council URL linked by Falmouth Town Council returned 404; the current constraint checker is https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/78edcfaac4f84987bffc262ac874d86f . No boundary has been inferred from place/ward names.

• Not yet confirmed

  Confirm fees for a licensable five-person HMO with fewer than five sleeping rooms; the current room-based table starts at five rooms.

• Not yet confirmed

  Confirm the formal adoption/commencement decision for homelessness-accommodation amenity standards. The current council policies page publishes February 2026 v1.8 (https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/tnrfj4kw/amenity-standards-for-licensable-hmo-homelessness-accommodation-v18.pdf), but the older consultation page still says feedback is being analysed and gives only a conditional 1 April 2026 implementation. Publication is confirmed; no formal decision date is inferred.

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Cornwall is in South West, where registration is planned from 15 August 2027 to 14 November 2027. The regulations are still in draft. Read about the register