Licensing in Lincoln

Lincoln has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

Ask an assistant about this page:

Check an address in Lincoln

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 only11

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: Yes
Consultation: None open

Licensing schemes

Mandatory HMO licence
In force
Mandatory HMO licensing (national scheme, City of Lincoln fees)
Area
Whole City of Lincoln (national scheme).
Fee
Published standard fee: £1,470
Council 'Applying for an HMO Licence' page: basic fee (up to 5 bedrooms) new application £1470; renewal £1270 if made at least 30 days before expiry; 6-10 bedrooms basic fee + 10%, 11-15 + 20%, 16-20 + 30%, then a further 10% per 5 bedrooms (or part) over 20. Trusted Landlord Scheme discount £100 (must be accredited on the date of the completed application). 60% is payable on application and 40% when the draft licence is granted. Temporary exemption of three months available.
Who needs one
HMOs with five or more occupants in two or more households sharing amenities, even if only one storey. Purpose-built blocks of flats are excluded, but individual flats occupied by five or more people may need a licence.
Apply on the council’s website Licence conditions
How we checked this
Contact hmolicensing@lincoln.gov.uk.
Sources
- lincoln.gov.uk: 4
- lincoln.gov.uk: hmo downloads

Article 4 for house shares

Lincoln 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: Whole city (the council's administrative area). The direction was made on 15 December 2014 and the council says 'Planning permission will therefore be required for change of use from Class C3 to C4 from 1st March 2016'. Separate Article 4 directions for the City Centre, Monks Road and Swanpool are conservation-area controls, not HMO controls.
Takes effect: 1 Mar 2016

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.

'City of Lincoln Council Civil Penalties Policy under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and other housing legislation', Appendix A to the Health & Environment Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy 2026-2031 (Policy & Scrutiny 9 June 2026, approved by the Executive on 16 June 2026, effective 8 July 2026). The council adopted an approved shared policy (titled ACEHO). Penalty bands not extracted.

Lincoln's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched Lincoln.

Not yet confirmed

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

Not yet confirmed
No selective or additional licensing scheme is in force or proposed on the council website: the HMO and private housing pages and the full website sitemap (2,370 URLs) contain no selective or additional licensing pages. The earlier Sincil Bank selective licensing scheme is not referenced and ended more than 12 months ago (date not confirmed from a fetched source). democratic.lincoln.gov.uk searches (via browser) for 'selective licensing' and 'additional licensing' return only the September 2018 mandatory HMO scheme review; the search index appears not to cover recent papers well.
Not yet confirmed
Mandatory HMO licence term is not stated on the licence page.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Lincoln is in East Midlands, where registration is planned from 15 February 2027 to 14 May 2027. The regulations are still in draft. Read about the register