Council licensing in East of England
Licensing in Mid Suffolk
Mid Suffolk has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.
Checked 14 Oct 2026
Check an address in Mid Suffolk
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 only26
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 confidenceMandatory HMO licensing (national scheme, Babergh and Mid Suffolk fee)
- Area
The whole of Mid Suffolk District (national scheme).
- Fee
£578.55
The council's HMO page says 'The fee for a licence is £578.55'. No date, renewal rate or per-occupant charge is shown.
- Who needs one
- HMOs occupied by five or more people. The council page says 'All HMOs occupied by five or more people need a licence.'
- Exemptions
- Statutory exemptions under Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004 apply; the council page does not list them.
How we checked this
This is the national scheme. Babergh and Mid Suffolk share a private sector housing team and publish the same fee. Applications are made on a downloadable form (Word or PDF) emailed to housingstandards@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk or posted to Endeavour House, Ipswich. The joint enforcement policy says the council 'will normally grant a licence that has a full-term duration of up to 5 years', with shorter terms where there are concerns; the HMO page itself does not state a term, so licence_length_years is left null. The HMO page links a landlord handbook covering licences, fire safety and space standards. No selective or additional licensing scheme, proposal or consultation was found.
Article 4 for house shares
We found no Article 4 direction on house shares in Mid Suffolk.
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 council's Housing Standards page links the joint Babergh and Mid Suffolk 'Private Sector Housing Enforcement & Civil Penalties Policy' agreed by Cabinet in 2023. It allows civil penalties 'up to a maximum of £30,000', including for failure to license an HMO, and says the amount is set by the councils' separate civil penalties policy. That separate policy (Appendix 2 to the February 2023 Cabinet report, read via the Wayback Machine because the committee site blocks automated access) uses culpability and harm bands from £750 to £30,000, and an HMO offences table with starting points for failure to licence of £1,000 (low severity), £2,000 (medium) and £5,000 (high). The council's Renters' Rights Act page mentions penalties of up to £7,000 and £40,000 under the Act, but no updated policy was found.
Consultations
We found no consultations when we researched Mid Suffolk.
Not yet confirmed
We could not settle these points when we researched Mid Suffolk 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. The committee site (baberghmidsuffolk.moderngov.co.uk) returns 403 to automated requests, so 2025 to 2026 Cabinet papers could not be searched; confirm whether an updated policy has been adopted.
- Not yet confirmed
No selective or additional licensing scheme, proposal or consultation was found on the council site or by web search; the council does not state the absence and committee papers could not be searched.
- Not yet confirmed
The £578.55 HMO fee has no date, and the page gives no renewal fee or licence term.
- Not yet confirmed
Article 4: absence of a C3 to C4 direction is inferred from the council's conservation areas page (Felsham only) and the absence of any HMO direction elsewhere on the site.
Landlord register
The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Mid Suffolk 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