Council licensing · West Midlands

Licensing in Malvern Hills

Malvern Hills has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

Researched 14 October 2026 · Independently checked 14 October 2026

Check a specific address in Malvern Hills

We match the postcode to its ward and the schemes below.

Licensing, ward by ward

Tap a ward, or focus it with your keyboard, to see its name and recorded coverage.

National rules only18

Current ONS ward boundaries. Exemptions apply. Use the postcode check and scheme details for your property.

Selective licensing: None
Additional HMO licensing: No
Article 4 on house shares: None found
Consultation: None open

Licensing schemes

Mandatory HMO licence
In force
Mandatory HMO licensing (national scheme, Malvern Hills fees)
Area
The whole of Malvern Hills District (national scheme).
Fee
£893 for 5 years
HMO licence fees from 1 April 2026 (2026-27). Standard licence: £893 single application, £764 multiple application. Increased occupancy, standard licence: 11 to 15 occupants £1,454 single / £1,387 multiple; 16 to 20 occupants £1,454 single / £1,387 multiple (as printed, the same as 11 to 15); 21 plus £1,662 single / £1,598 multiple. Renewal: £653 single / £587 multiple; 11 to 15 £1,069 / £1,002; 16 to 20 £1,276 / £1,211; 21 plus £1,485 / £1,419. Payment is taken online with the application. Certificates already submitted and still in date need not be re-sent on renewal.
Who needs one
A property rented to five or more people, not from the same household, who share facilities.
Exemptions
The council page lists: properties managed or controlled by a local housing authority, registered social landlord or certain other public bodies; properties regulated under other enactments such as children's homes, care homes and bail hostels; student accommodation managed by a specified education establishment under an approved code of practice; religious communities; a resident landlord and family with no more than 2 unrelated persons; and properties occupied by only two persons each forming a separate household.
Notes
This is the national scheme. Malvern Hills publishes its own page and fees. Applications go through the council's online HMO system, linked as 'Apply for a HMO licence' on the HMO page; renewals use a separate Microsoft Forms link on the HMO page, followed by payment through the council's pay-it page. The older licensing online application guidance page says 'each licence could last for five years', but much of that page is out of date: it still describes the pre-2018 three-storey test, a fine of up to £20,000 and fees set from 1 April 2021. The HMO page publishes an HMO register (updated monthly) and minimum room sizes for HMOs with 5 or more sharing (6.51 m2 for one person over 10, 10.22 m2 for two persons over 10, 4.64 m2 for a child under 10). The council's housing pages are shared with Wychavon District Council in places. The HMO page also links a 2026 guide to Standards for Houses in Multiple Occupation (POL0016). It sets amenity standards rather than licence conditions, so conditions_url stays null.
Apply on the council site
Sources

Article 4 for house shares

We found no Article 4 direction on house shares in Malvern Hills.

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 published policy is the joint Wychavon and Malvern Hills 'Housing Civil Penalties Policy', September 2018, with a £30,000 maximum. Its fixed charging table sets failure to obtain an HMO licence (s.72(1)) at £10,000 for a first offence and £30,000 for a second or subsequent offence, breach of licence conditions at £5,000 per breach, and failure to licence under s.95(1) at £10,000 / £30,000, with a 50% reduction where the person shows income below £440 a week. The council's advice for landlords and housing standards pages still link this 2018 policy. No Renters' Rights Act 2025 update was found.

Malvern Hills's civil penalty policy

Consultations

No consultation was recorded when we researched Malvern Hills.

Not yet confirmed

These points were unresolved when we researched Malvern Hills on 14 October 2026. Check them with the council before you rely on them.

Not yet confirmed
No Renters' Rights Act civil penalty policy was found for Malvern Hills (searched the council site, its moderngov site and the web). The HMO page says related policies are available on request by email. Confirm whether an updated policy has been adopted.
Not yet confirmed
No selective or additional licensing scheme, consultation or proposal was found. The council does not state the absence, so this is inferred from its HMO page covering mandatory licensing only.
Not yet confirmed
The 2026-27 fee table shows the same fees for 11 to 15 and 16 to 20 occupants on a standard licence (£1,454 / £1,387), which may be a typo. The page does not say how many occupants the base £893 fee covers.
Not yet confirmed
Article 4: the council confirms no Article 4(2) directions; absence of an Article 4(1) C3 to C4 direction is inferred from planning.data.gov.uk and site search.
Not yet confirmed
Not independently re-checked (verification of 2026-10-14): whether a Renters' Rights Act civil penalty policy has been adopted (the advice-for-landlords page still links only the 2018 joint policy, and the HMO page says related policies are available on request), and the absence of a selective or additional scheme, inferred from the HMO page because the sitemap returned no URLs and no web search was possible.

Landlord register

Licensing is separate from the national landlord register. Malvern Hills is in West Midlands, where the planned registration window runs from 15 December 2026 to 14 March 2027. The regulations are still in draft. Register dates, fee and documents