# Licensing in Doncaster

> Doncaster has selective licensing in part of the council area.

- Checked 15 Oct 2026 (researched_at 2026-10-15, verified_at 2026-10-15)
- Region: Yorkshire and The Humber
- ONS code: E08000017
- Web page: https://lettance.com/councils/doncaster
- API: https://lettance.com/api/v1/councils/doncaster

## Licensing schemes

### Selective licence: Hexthorpe selective licensing 2022–2027

- Status: In force (`in_force`)
- Area: Only the residential Hexthorpe area edged red on the November 2021 Appendix A map. The outline includes specific residential blocks and excludes adjoining land; it is not the entire current Hexthorpe & Balby North ward, all Balby or all streets bearing the locality name. The red line makes property-level turns around the Old Hexthorpe/Shady Side area and follows the mapped residential area by Ramsden Road/Cherry Tree Road. These street references are orientation only, not a complete list of covered roads or a statement that both sides are included. Exact property must be checked against the official plan.
- Runs: 1 March 2022 to 28 February 2027
- Fee: Published standard fee: £600. £600 is the full-scheme standard (£200 application + £400 grant), not a universal current-year invoice. Current scheme page, application form and 2026/27 schedule retain a full-years pro-rata table: year 1 £600; year 2 £520; year 3 £440; year 4 £360; year 5 (1 March 2026–28 February 2027) £280 (£200 + £80). The council schedule requires charging from the historical date the property became licensable, so a long-unlicensed property cannot assume the £280 newly-licensable year-five fee. £50 discount on part 2 for membership of a relevant recognised approved body, assessed case by case; not an automatic early-bird discount. £50 late-application charge may apply after three months/resources deployed, and the selective application page states a £50 late second-payment charge after one month from the decision to grant (the 14-day period on the HMO application pages is a different regime). 2026/27 schedule lists £50 per extra selective correspondence letter. Confirm property-specific charge/history.
- Licence length: 5 years
- Who needs one: Privately rented houses/flats let or occupied under a tenancy or licence within the exact designated area, including smaller shared HMOs not requiring Part 2 HMO licensing; statutory exemptions apply.
- Exemptions: Notice paragraph 4 excludes houses requiring Part 2 HMO licence, registered-social-landlord tenancies, interim/final management orders, temporary section 86 exemptions, and exempt tenancies/buildings under the 2006 Specified Exemptions Order and Housing Act 2004.
- Apply: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/doitonline/selective-licensing-application
- Licence conditions: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Housing/Model%20Licence%20Conditions%20Hexthorpe%20v2.pdf
- Council's map or designation: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Housing/Appendix%20A%20-%20Map%20of%20Designated%20Area.pdf
- Confidence: High
- How we checked this: Designation made 15 November 2021; notice expressly starts 1 March 2022. Current landlord page and 2026/27 fee schedule explicitly state scheme to 28 February 2027, which is recorded as last day; the short public notice itself does not print an end date. Licences are tied to scheme expiry and pro-rated, not five years anew from late issue. Map pixels were inspected for scope only; no address-level geometry was generated. Current page calls this the only selective scheme; Edlington ended 6 February 2023, outside the past-12-month window. The previous Hexthorpe scheme was 2015–2020 and is not current. Council consultation index updated 13 October 2026 lists Hexthorpe under recent consultations but links directly to this already-operating scheme page; no separate 2027 successor consultation/decision/designation was established. Do not assume renewal or lapse beyond the published expiry. Current page links model conditions headed “Proposed” version 2 November 2022; check actual issued conditions and 2024 waste-management agreement. Annual gas certificate and compliance declaration requirements are described in current operational pages.
- Sources: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/housing/hexthorpeslc, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Housing/Hexthorpe%20Designation%20Notice%202021.pdf, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Housing/Appendix%20A%20-%20Map%20of%20Designated%20Area.pdf, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Housing/Model%20Licence%20Conditions%20Hexthorpe%20v2.pdf, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/doitonline/selective-licensing-application, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Council%20and%20Democracy/Fees%20Charges%202026-27.pdf, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/business-investment/selective-licensing, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/housing/landlord-licences, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/get-involved/consultations

### Mandatory HMO licence: Mandatory HMO licensing

- Status: In force (`in_force`)
- Area: Entire City of Doncaster Council administrative area; licensing threshold is separate from the partial HMO Article 4 planning direction.
- Fee: Published standard fee: £1,008. Published 1 April 2026–31 March 2027 fees: new licence £1,008 for up to five bedrooms, plus £69 per additional bedroom; renewal £939 plus £69 per additional bedroom. Application part £200, remainder on grant (£808 new / £739 renewal before room supplements). Current 2026/27 published council fee schedule states £46 per extra correspondence letter for incomplete HMO applications, while HMO service page last updated 17 September 2026 still states £44; confirm current invoice for that supplement. £50 late-application charge may apply after three months or where resources were deployed against unlicensed operation. Separate £50 late-payment charge if grant balance unpaid within 14 days; unpaid balance may lead to refusal. No general early-bird rate stated.
- Licence length: 5 years
- Who needs one: HMOs rented to five or more people forming more than one household, sharing toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities, subject to the statutory prescribed description and exemptions.
- Exemptions: Council summary lists specified public/social bodies, qualifying co-operative societies, accommodation regulated under other legislation, qualifying educational establishments/student accommodation, religious communities, owners and two-person/two-household buildings; exact Schedule 14 qualification must be checked. The summary is not a complete determination for unusual buildings.
- Apply: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/doitonline/hmo-application-new
- Licence conditions: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Housing/HMO%20Licence%20Standard%20Conditions%20Webpage.pdf
- Confidence: High
- How we checked this: Maximum licence term five years. Renewal requires existing holder and application before expiry; lapsed licence or new owner requires new application. Fit-and-proper holder/manager, suitable facilities/occupation and satisfactory management apply. Council normally seeks appropriate planning permission before grant; where already occupied without required planning permission it may give a shorter licence at full fee. Standard conditions and September 2023 standards were freshly retrieved. Current landlord/enforcement pages identify only mandatory HMO and Hexthorpe selective schemes. The additional scheme in parts of central Doncaster ran 1 October 2018–30 September 2023 and is outside the past-12-month expired inclusion window; current council expressly says no new additional application requirement, although any individually unexpired old licence remains binding. The planning page retains outdated additional-scheme wording; current licensing page takes precedence.
- Sources: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/housing/landlord-licences, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/housing/houses-in-multiple-occupation-licensing, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/doitonline/hmo-application-new, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/doitonline/application-to-renew-a-licence-for-a-house-in-multiple-occupation-renew-hmo-licence, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Council%20and%20Democracy/Fees%20Charges%202026-27.pdf, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Housing/HMO%20Licence%20Standard%20Conditions%20Webpage.pdf, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Housing/HMO%20Standards%20revised%20Sept%202023.pdf, https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/housing/enforcement-of-standards-in-privately-rented-property

## Article 4 for house shares

Doncaster has an Article 4 direction on HMOs (shared houses). Turning a family home into a shared house may need planning permission.

- Area: Defined central Doncaster area only: mapped parts of Town, Town Fields, Wheatley, Hexthorpe, Balby, Wheatley Hills, Intake and Belle Vue. These are locality names, not a whole-current-ward list. C3 dwellinghouse to C4 small HMO change of use requires planning permission within the fixed red boundary. Notice made 9 August 2018; sealed confirmed order and current planning guidance specify effective 14 October 2019. Scanned sealed order first page visually read. Licensing and planning are separate; old planning-page reference to additional licensing does not prove it continues after 2023. Order: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Planning/Documents/Policy%20-%20General/A4D%20HMO%27s%20-%20Sealed%20Order.pdf
- Takes effect: 14 October 2019

Council source: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/planning/houses-in-multiple-occupation-article-4-direction

## 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.

Current enforcement page expressly distinguishes offences before 1 May 2026 and the amended RRA process for offences from that date, linking both policies. Freshly downloaded published DOCX is labelled updated September 2026 and explicitly titled civil penalties under RRA2025/other housing legislation; it includes £7,000/£40,000 maxima, starting-point/landlord-type/mitigation/financial-benefit/totality matrix, £17,000 failure-to-license-HMO starting point and 15% prompt-payment discount (normally 28 days), separate from licensing fee reductions. Current Housing Enforcement Policy September 2026 DOCX also fetched. Exact approving body/day and original adoption instrument were not established, so no date is inferred from the filename; operational current-policy content is confirmed. Older 2018/pre-RRA policies remain for historic offences. Current enforcement page still retains an old twelve-month RRO paragraph; it is not used as current law.

Policy: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Documents/DocumentView/Stream/Media/Default/Housing/Civil%20Financial%20Penalty%20Policy%20including%20RRA%20breaches%20for%201%20May%202026%20%28updated%20Sept%202026%29.docx

## Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched Doncaster.

## Not yet confirmed

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

- Confirm whether a new Hexthorpe designation or formal consultation is planned for after 28 February 2027. The 13 October 2026 consultation index’s recent Hexthorpe link goes to the existing 2022–2027 page, not a verified new renewal proposal; no start, end, boundary or fee for a successor is inferred.
- Confirm the £46 HMO extra-correspondence charge from the 2026/27 council fee schedule against the current HMO service page’s £44. New/renewal base rates and per-bedroom supplements agree across sources.
- Confirm property-specific selective charge using the original licensability date: published full-term base £600 and year-five newly-licensable amount £280 coexist; an owner applying late cannot assume only the remaining-year tariff. Confirm recognition/continuing eligibility for the £50 professional-body discount.
- Check each Hexthorpe address against Appendix A; no whole ward or boundary-street side inference was made. Confirm whether any amendments to conditions headed proposed/version 2 November 2022 have been made in issued licences.
- Obtain formal approval/adoption day for September 2026 housing enforcement and RRA civil-penalty documents. Current council page explicitly applies the amended process to offences from 1 May; that offence date does not establish policy adoption date.
- Current primary licensing pages identify only two live regimes and explicitly ended additional/Edlington schemes. Targeted current committee/consultation searches found no further operative, approved, proposed or recently expired scheme, but later decisions still need monitoring.

## Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Doncaster is in Yorkshire and The Humber, where registration is planned from 15 April 2027 to 14 July 2027. The regulations are still in draft. Read about the register: https://lettance.com/register

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From Lettance: https://lettance.com/councils/doncaster (catalogue edition 15 October 2026). This is information, not legal advice. Check the linked sources, and the council's own pages, before you act.