Council licensing in East of England

Licensing in North Hertfordshire

North Hertfordshire has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

Checked 14 Oct 2026

Check an address in North Hertfordshire

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 only25

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, North Hertfordshire fees)
Area
The whole of North Hertfordshire District (national scheme).
Fee
£978.25 for 5 years
From the council's 'Fees and charges for 2025-26' schedule, which is still the schedule linked from its licensing fees page (last updated 27 August 2025) on 14 October 2026: new application (5 years) £875.25 application plus £103.00 licence, £978.25 in total; re-licence (renewal) £609.50 plus £156.50, £766.00; variation £177.75 plus £54.00, £231.75. Pre-application advice is £75 an hour.
Who needs one
Any private property rented as a shared house, flat or bedsit occupied by five or more unrelated tenants, regardless of the number of storeys.
Exemptions
Statutory exemptions under Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004 apply; the council page does not list them.
Licence conditions
How we checked this
This is the national scheme. North Hertfordshire publishes its own page, fees, HMO licensing policy (February 2023) and standard licence conditions (Appendix D). There is no online form: the HMO page (last updated 25 June 2026) says to email Env.Health@north-herts.gov.uk for an application form, at least three months before an HMO starts operating or a licence expires. The council aims to acknowledge applications within 3 working days. The HMO page says the maximum fine for managing an unlicensed HMO is £20,000, but the same page also lists 'an unlimited fine' as a possible outcome, so the £20,000 figure appears out of date. No selective or additional licensing scheme, proposal or consultation was found.
Sources

Article 4 for house shares

We found no Article 4 direction on house shares in North Hertfordshire.

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.

On 14 April 2026 Cabinet adopted 'The Civil Penalties Policy for Proceedings under the Renters Rights Act 2025 and other Housing Legislation' and a new Housing Authority Enforcement Policy so the council could enforce the Act from 1 May 2026. The policy (Appendix G to the Cabinet report, headed 'Draft Civil Penalty Policy - April 2026') covers penalties of up to £7,000 for breaches and up to £40,000 for offences. Failure to obtain an HMO licence (s.72(1)) starts at £17,000, with a 20% landlord-type adjustment (£13,600 down, £20,400 up), before offence-specific aggravating factors such as the landlord's knowledge of licensing and the condition of the property. Failure to obtain a selective licence (s.95) is also covered. The policy was found in the Cabinet papers; no copy was found on the main council website.

North Hertfordshire's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched North Hertfordshire.

Not yet confirmed

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

Not yet confirmed
No 2026-27 fee schedule is published; the licensing fees page still links the 2025-26 schedule. Confirm the current HMO fee.
Not yet confirmed
No selective or additional licensing scheme, proposal or consultation was found in the council's decisions register (2025 to October 2026), forthcoming decisions or website; the council does not state the absence.
Not yet confirmed
The adopted civil penalties policy is only available as the Cabinet appendix marked 'Draft'; confirm the published final version.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. North Hertfordshire 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