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Council licensing in East of England

Licensing in Dacorum

Dacorum has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

Checked 14 Oct 2026

Check an address in Dacorum

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 only25

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, Dacorum fees)

    Area

    The whole of Dacorum borough (national scheme).

    Fee

    £1,563 for 5 years

    Fees for 2026-2027 from the council's HMO licences page (last updated 24 September 2026). Part 1 (initial licence fee application, including renewals) £610. Part 2 (ongoing management of the scheme) £953 for a five-year licence or £287 for a one-year licence. Total £1,563 for a five-year licence or £897 for a one-year licence. Additional bedrooms over the standard five: £25 each. Payment is online.

    Who needs one
    A property occupied by five or more people forming two or more households.
    Apply on the council's website
    How we checked this

    This is the national scheme. Dacorum publishes its own page, fees and an HMO Licensing Policy (version 1.0, published April 2026), in effect from 1 April 2026. Licences are usually for five years, but a one-year licence may be issued where there are concerns such as failing to apply when required, breaches of management regulations or licence conditions, poor conditions or serious hazards, missing planning or building regulations approvals, unpaid charges or fines, missing or late certificates, false information, or an unprotected deposit; a five-year licence is granted only where full compliance is shown. Applications must include a long list of documents (including EPC, fire risk assessment, PAT, fire alarm and emergency lighting certificates, floor plans, tenancy agreements, ownership documents, planning and building regulation approvals and a DBS check); an application not completed within three months is returned and enforcement for failing to license may be considered. Licences issued from 1 April 2026 no longer include two- and four-year inspections. The council does not guarantee renewal reminders. Licence conditions cover fire safety, facilities and property conditions and management; no separate conditions document is linked from the HMO page. The HMO page still says a civil penalty of up to £30,000.

    Sources

Article 4 for house shares

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

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.

'Private Sector Housing Civil Penalty Policy' (version 1.1, published May 2026, last reviewed August 2026), linked from the HMO page as the 'post 1 May 2026' policy; the page also links a 'pre 1 May 2026' civil penalty policy. It covers civil penalties under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and other housing legislation. Failure to obtain an HMO licence (s.72(1)) has a starting point of £17,000 against a statutory maximum of £40,000, with a 20% landlord-type adjustment (£13,600 down or £20,400 up). A 15% discount applies if a final notice penalty is paid in full within the period in the notice (normally 28 days). The revised policies went to the Housing and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 5 March 2026 as a pre-Cabinet report.

Dacorum's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched Dacorum.

Not yet confirmed

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

  • Not yet confirmed

    No selective or additional licensing scheme, proposal or consultation was found. The council does not state the absence; it is inferred from its HMO page (mandatory licensing only) and a search of its committee papers for 'selective licensing' and 'additional licensing' (only incidental hits).

  • Not yet confirmed

    No HMO Article 4 direction was found, but the council does not state that none exists. Its Article 4 page lists only employment-area and Hemel Hempstead town centre directions (changes of use to residential), and planning.data.gov.uk holds no Article 4 data for Dacorum.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Dacorum 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