Council licensing in East of England

Licensing in Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth has selective licensing in part of the council area.

Checked 14 Oct 2026

Check an address in Great Yarmouth

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.

Selective licensing area3
May be covered: check the council's map14

Current ward boundaries from ONS. Some homes are exempt, so check your postcode and the scheme details below.

Selective licensing: Part of the council area
Additional HMO licensing: No
Article 4 on house shares: Yes
Consultation: None open

Licensing schemes

Selective licence
In forceMedium confidence
Great Yarmouth Borough Council Selective Licensing Scheme 2026 (Nelson, Central and Northgate, and Southtown and Cobholm wards)
Area
The whole of Nelson ward, the whole of Central and Northgate ward and the whole of Southtown and Cobholm ward. The same designation also covers eight streets in Yarmouth North ward, recorded as a separate entry. The council publishes an interactive map of the designated area.
3 wards named in the designation:
Nelson
Central and Northgate
Southtown and Cobholm
Ward boundaries: current wards (Great Yarmouth's ward boundaries date from the Borough of Great Yarmouth (Electoral Changes) Order 2002; no later order was found)
Runs
1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031
Fee
£694 for 5 years
£694 per self-contained unit for the licence: Part A £200 with the application (not refundable if the licence is not granted, the application is withdrawn or invalid) and Part B £494 invoiced when the draft licence is issued, payable within 7 days and before the final licence is issued. Fully self-contained flats in converted buildings count as separate units; the council's FAQ also says 'a small house in multiple occupation which falls under the mandatory HMO licensing regime will count as one unit'. For applications later in the scheme, Part A stays the same and Part B reduces monthly, but a late application's fee is backdated to when the property was first let or the scheme start, whichever is later. No discount or early bird rate. Portfolio landlords with 10 or more properties in the area who show difficulty paying may discuss arrangements. The proposal consulted on in 2025 quoted £784.
Who needs one
All privately rented residential accommodation in the designated area, unless subject to a statutory exemption. HMOs that need a mandatory HMO licence (5 or more occupiers) are excluded.
Exemptions
The council's FAQ lists: properties let by registered social housing providers; the council's own properties and those let by other public authorities; properties that need an HMO licence (5 or more occupants); properties with a temporary exemption notice; long leases (over 21 years); holiday homes; properties occupied by a member of the landlord's family; properties where the landlord shares accommodation with the tenant or licensee (for example a lodger); care homes and similar institutions; and business tenancies.
Apply on the council's website Licence conditions Council's map or designation
How we checked this
The council's website blocked automated fetching (Cloudflare 403) on 14 October 2026, so the council's pages were read through Wayback Machine snapshots (FAQ of 2 April 2026, scheme and news pages of 25 June 2026) and checked against the live page of Home Safe, the council's delivery partner. Cabinet approved the designation on 2 December 2025 and Home Safe says the council formally designated the scheme on 10 December 2025. The council's FAQ says eligible properties must be licensed from 1 April 2026 and the licence lasts 'until the end of the scheme which will be 31 March 2031'; Home Safe says the scheme 'will remain in force until 31 March 2031'. The designation notice itself could not be fetched; if it says the designation 'shall cease to have effect on 31 March 2031', the last day in force would be 30 March 2031. The council said landlords who made a valid application (with certificates and the Part A fee) would not face action, allowed until the end of June 2026 to apply, and warned that from 1 July 2026 landlords who had not applied risked investigation and a significant civil penalty. All applications go through Home Safe (identity check via Yoti, then property details, certificates and Part A payment); agents with clients in the area must register with Home Safe. Home Safe says a final licence can take up to six months to issue. After the designation, the Eastern Landlords Association sent the council a pre-action protocol letter for judicial review, asking it to withdraw the designation or delay it by at least six months; no claim or outcome was found, and the council's pages showed the scheme running in June 2026. An earlier selective licensing scheme covered Nelson ward from 7 January 2019 and ended on 7 January 2024. In September 2026 the council told the Eastern Landlords Association that, on legal advice after the Fletcher v Portsmouth tribunal decision, it would remove most of its blanket licence conditions, so the standard conditions would be the mandatory conditions plus a duty to notify the council of changes, with other conditions (for example on antisocial behaviour) added only case by case. This was reported by the Portsmouth & District Private Landlords Association on 25 September 2026 and by the Eastern Landlords Association; the council's conditions page could not be checked because its website blocks automated fetching.
Sources
Selective licence
In forceMedium confidence
Great Yarmouth Borough Council Selective Licensing Scheme 2026 (designated streets in Yarmouth North ward)
Area
The following streets in Yarmouth North ward, as the council lists them: the West side of North Denes Road, Walpole Road, Churchill Road, Arundel Road, Garfield Road, the East side of Harley Road, the South side of Hamilton Road and the North side of Salisbury Road. Only one side of North Denes Road, Harley Road, Hamilton Road and Salisbury Road is included; check the council's map.
Runs
1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031
Fee
£694 for 5 years
Same fee as the rest of the designation: £694 per self-contained unit (Part A £200, Part B £494).
Who needs one
All privately rented residential accommodation on the listed streets (or the listed side of the street), unless subject to a statutory exemption. HMOs that need a mandatory HMO licence (5 or more occupiers) are excluded.
Exemptions
Same as the rest of the designation (see the Nelson, Central and Northgate, and Southtown and Cobholm entry).
Apply on the council's website Licence conditions Council's map or designation
How we checked this
This is part of the same designation as the ward-based entry; it is listed separately because only some streets of Yarmouth North ward are covered. Street matching is by name, so for the four streets where only one side is designated, an address on the other side will also match; the council's map is the authority. The street list comes from the council's FAQ (Wayback snapshot of 2 April 2026) because the council website blocked automated fetching.
Sources
- web.archive.org: FAQs for Selective Licensing
- home-safe.org.uk: great yarmouth borough council selective licensing scheme
Mandatory HMO licence
In forceMedium confidence
Mandatory HMO licensing (national scheme, Great Yarmouth fees)
Area
The whole of Great Yarmouth borough (national scheme).
Fee
£1,245 for 5 years
New licence £1,245 for an HMO for five occupiers (Part A £855 with the application, Part B £390 before the licence is issued), plus £40 for each additional unit of accommodation. Renewal £1,239 (Part A £849, Part B £390) plus £40 per additional unit. Variation £40, applied for directly to the council. An application is not duly made until both parts are paid. Figures from the council's fee page (last modified 1 April 2025, Wayback snapshot of 10 September 2025) and Home Safe's live page on 14 October 2026.
Who needs one
HMOs with five or more unrelated occupants, forming two or more households, sharing one or more basic amenities.
Apply on the council's website
How we checked this
This is the national scheme. Great Yarmouth publishes its own HMO pages and fees; applications are processed by Home Safe, the council's HMO application service partner. The council says a licence usually lasts five years (shorter in some circumstances) and advises checking with the Planning Team that the property has planning permission for HMO use. The council website blocked automated fetching on 14 October 2026, so its HMO pages were read through Wayback Machine snapshots; the fees match Home Safe's live page.
Sources

Article 4 for house shares

Great Yarmouth has an Article 4 direction on HMOs (houses in multiple occupation, or shared houses). Turning a family home into a shared house may need planning permission.

Area: The whole borough except the Broads Authority executive area
Takes effect: 24 Sept 2012

Council source

Civil penalty policy

The council's policy sets how it decides the size of a fine.

The council's 'Private Sector Housing Civil Financial Penalty Policy' is published as web pages. In the versions archived between June 2025 and January 2026 it allows penalties up to £30,000 per offence, using starting levels from £2,500 (mild) to £27,500 (very severe), adjusted for portfolio size and experience and, rarely by more than £5,000, for aggravating and mitigating factors. Failing to license an HMO (s.72(1)) is 'Very Serious' with a £17,500 starting level: £12,500 for a landlord with only one HMO and no more than one other dwelling, £17,500 for three to five dwellings and/or two HMOs, and £22,500 for six or more dwellings, three or more HMOs or demonstrated letting experience. The policy covers selective licensing offences (s.95). Whether it has been updated for the Renters' Rights Act 2025 could not be checked because the live site blocked automated fetching; the archived pages (last modified 17 October 2024 and 18 September 2025) do not mention it.

Great Yarmouth's civil penalty policy

Consultations

Selective Licensing Scheme consultation (Nelson; Southtown and Cobholm; Central and Northgate wards)Approved
Closed 1 Sept 2025

Not yet confirmed

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

Not yet confirmed
The council website (www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk and its subdomains) returned Cloudflare 403 responses on 14 October 2026; all council facts come from Wayback Machine snapshots dated up to 25 June 2026 and from Home Safe's live pages. Re-check the live pages.
Not yet confirmed
The designation notice (made 10 December 2025) could not be fetched from the council site or the Wayback Machine. Confirm the exact end wording: if it 'shall cease to have effect on 31 March 2031', end_date should be 2031-03-30.
Not yet confirmed
The Eastern Landlords Association's threatened judicial review of the designation: no claim, hearing or outcome was found. Confirm the scheme has not been stayed or quashed.
Not yet confirmed
Four Yarmouth North streets are designated on one side only; the street-name match cannot tell sides apart, and a same-named street elsewhere in the borough would also match.
Not yet confirmed
Whether the civil penalty policy has been updated for the Renters' Rights Act 2025 is unknown.
Not yet confirmed
No additional HMO licensing scheme or proposal was found in the archived council pages or web searches.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Great Yarmouth 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