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Council licensing in East of England

Licensing in Epping Forest

Epping Forest has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

Checked 14 Oct 2026

Check an address in Epping Forest

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 only18

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, Epping Forest fees)

    Area

    The whole of Epping Forest district (national scheme).

    Fee

    £1,036 for 5 years

    From the council's HMO application process page: 'A licence fee per 5 units of accommodation is £1,036.00. An additional £41.00 is charged for each extra unit of accommodation.' The fee is paid with the online application. The page does not show a date for the fee; the WordPress page record shows it was last modified on 3 July 2025.

    Who needs one
    An HMO with 5 or more occupants living as 2 or more households and sharing facilities. A licence must be applied for before the property is occupied in this way, or immediately if it already is.
    Apply on the council's website
    How we checked this

    This is the national scheme. Epping Forest publishes its own HMO pages and fee. Applications are online only (paper applications are no longer accepted) and need a gas safety certificate, fire alarm and emergency lighting test certificates, an EICR, PAT certificates and a floor plan. Licences are normally granted for 5 years, but may be shorter if works are needed or the council has concerns about management. Tacit consent does not apply. After a complete application the council arranges an inspection; the minimum time for the process is 6 weeks. Properties are assessed against the Essex HMO amenity standards (May 2019) and LACORS fire safety guidance. The council's pages describe only mandatory HMO licensing.

    Sources

Article 4 for house shares

We found no Article 4 direction on house shares in Epping Forest.

Council source

Civil penalty policy

The council's policy sets how it decides the size of a fine. The version we found has not been updated for the Renters' Rights Act.

The latest document found is 'Enforcement and Service Standards: Private Housing' (uploaded November 2023), linked from the council's Housing conditions and enforcement page. It states a civil penalty maximum of £30,000 and uses a scoring matrix (Appendix A) across culpability, track record, removal of financial incentive, harm and exposure to risk, with the total score converted to a penalty of £1,000 per point, from £1,000 (1 point) to £30,000 (30 points); the matrix notes say penalties range from a minimum of £300 to a maximum of £30,000. In the culpability row, failing to apply for an HMO licence is a mid-level example (score 3 to 4), and failing to apply after a warning or with prior knowledge is a top-level example (score 5). No Renters' Rights Act 2025 update was found.

Epping Forest's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched Epping Forest.

Not yet confirmed

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

  • Not yet confirmed

    The council's committee papers site (rds.eppingforestdc.gov.uk) returned HTTP 403 to automated requests on 14 October 2026, so committee papers could not be searched for licensing proposals or a Renters' Rights Act civil penalty policy.

  • 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 pages and a search of the council website (WordPress search for 'selective licensing' returned nothing).

  • Not yet confirmed

    The HMO fee is undated on the council page (page last modified 3 July 2025); confirm the 2026-27 fee with the Private Sector Housing team (01992 564348).

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Epping Forest 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