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Licensing in Dover

Dover has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

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Check an address in Dover

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 only17

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, Dover fees)

    Area

    The whole of Dover District (national scheme).

    Fee

    Published standard fee: £1,298

    Council HMO page (no fee year printed; fetched 26 October 2026): new licence £1,298 for up to eight habitable rooms plus £72 for each habitable room above eight; renewal £995 for up to eight habitable rooms plus £53 for each habitable room above eight. Pre-application phone/video consultation £108 per hour; property inspection £190 per hour.

    Who needs one
    HMOs occupied by five or more people forming two or more separate households with shared facilities such as a kitchen, bathroom or toilet (council HMO page).
    Apply on the council’s websiteLicence conditions
    How we checked this

    Applicants supply a copy of the tenancy agreement, gas and fire safety certificates, electrical test reports and building plans. Licence length is not stated on the page. The council's online forms were under maintenance when fetched.

    Sources

Article 4 for house shares

Not yet confirmed

Whether Dover has an Article 4 direction on house shares.

Council source

Civil penalty policy

Not yet confirmed

We have not found Dover's civil penalty policy yet.

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched Dover.

Not yet confirmed

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

  • Not yet confirmed

    No selective or additional licensing scheme, proposal or consultation was found on the council's private sector housing pages or in the council's committee document search (moderngov.dover.gov.uk: 'selective licensing', 'houses in multiple occupation'); the only related item is a 2016 Cabinet decision to join a Kent-wide BRE private sector stock condition survey. Absence is inferred, not stated by the council.

  • Not yet confirmed

    Retrieve the 2017 Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy (Cabinet CAB 78) and confirm its civil penalty provisions, and whether it has been revised for the Renters' Rights Act 2025.

  • Not yet confirmed

    HMO licence term not stated; confirm the fee year of the published fees.

  • Not yet confirmed

    Absence of an HMO Article 4 direction rests on the planning.data.gov.uk dataset and the HMO page, not on a council statement.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Dover 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