Council licensing in East of England

Licensing in East Cambridgeshire

East Cambridgeshire has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

Checked 14 Oct 2026

Check an address in East Cambridgeshire

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 only14

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 forceMedium confidence
Mandatory HMO licensing (national scheme, East Cambridgeshire fees)
Area
The whole of East Cambridgeshire district (national scheme).
Fee
£397 for 5 years
From the payment structure in the council's HMO application form (dated January 2025), linked from the HMO licensing page: new application with fewer than 7 occupiers £397; new application with 7 or more occupiers £463; renewal with fewer than 7 occupiers £147; renewal with 7 or more occupiers £169. These are the fees recommended to the Operational Services Committee on 18 November 2024 to apply from 1 January 2025, with annual review from April 2025 through the budget process. No 2026-27 fee schedule was found.
Who needs one
A property occupied by 5 or more persons forming 2 or more households where basic amenities such as a bathroom or kitchen are shared, regardless of the number of floors.
Apply on the council's website
How we checked this
This is the national scheme. East Cambridgeshire publishes its own HMO page and fees. The November 2024 committee report says licences are granted for up to 5 years. Applications can be made online or on a downloadable paper form. Minimum room sizes are 6.51 m2 for a single room and 10.22 m2 for a double. The council may refuse a licence if the property does not meet its 'Adopted standards for houses in multiple occupation' or the landlord or manager is not fit and proper. The HMO register is available on request from EHHousing@eastcambs.gov.uk. In a December 2025 FOI response (FOI/EIR 25/26-421) the council said it 'does not operate a Selective Licensing scheme' and does not operate a short-term let scheme, and referred to its HMO page for HMO licensing. In a September 2026 FOI response (FOI/EIR 26/27-323, responded 21 September 2026) the council said: 'We do not have additional or selective licensing.'
Sources

Article 4 for house shares

We found no Article 4 direction on house shares in East Cambridgeshire.

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.

On 23 March 2026 the Operational Services Committee resolved to approve the Housing Enforcement and Financial Civil Penalty Policies 2026 for implementation on 1 May 2026 (decision list, eastcambs.gov.uk). The report says the new policies follow the ACEHO and Justice for Tenants national model policies, and that the 2022 policy and the new policies run side by side for about six months, the applicable policy depending on when the offence was committed. The 2026 policy text (report Appendix 2) was not found on the council website; the housing policies page still links only the Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy 2022 (eastcambs.gov.uk). Under that 2022 policy's matrix (maximum £30,000), failure to licence an HMO is given as an example of 'Very High' culpability and 'Negligible' harm, which gives scale point 5 and the £7,001 to £11,000 band, with fines set at the band mid-point before adjustments.

East Cambridgeshire's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched East Cambridgeshire.

Not yet confirmed

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

Not yet confirmed
The approved 2026 civil penalty policy (Appendix 2 to the 23 March 2026 committee report) was not found online, so its starting point for failing to licence an HMO is unconfirmed.
Not yet confirmed
No 2026-27 HMO fee schedule was found; the fees come from the application form dated January 2025. Confirm current fees with the council.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. East Cambridgeshire 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