Licensing in Plymouth

• Mandatory HMO licence

  In force

  Mandatory HMO licensing

  Area

  Entire Plymouth City Council administrative area; licensing is separate from the limited HMO Article 4 planning area.

  Fee

  Published standard fee: £1,097

  Current undated application page fetched 15 October 2026: initial full £1097, accredited £982; renewal full £1040, accredited £924. Initial fee applies where never licensed or holder changes; renewal requires same licence holder as previous licence. Recognised accreditation or qualifying equivalent gives the reduction; where licence holder is a company, a director must be accredited. No current cash split, effective fee-year, per-room multiplier or early-bird offer established on that page. Incorrect fee is invoiced for difference; application fees described as non-refundable.

  Who needs one

  HMOs occupied by five or more people in two or more households meeting the standard, self-contained-flat or converted-building tests under the Housing Act 2004. The council current block-accommodation guidance quotes the 2018 prescribed description.

  Exemptions

  Statutory Schedule 14 exemptions apply, including qualifying owner/resident-landlord and educational-establishment-managed student accommodation cases. Purpose-built flats within a block containing three or more self-contained flats are outside the mandatory self-contained-flat route. Private student providers are not automatically exempt merely because they join an accommodation code. Multiple qualifying flats in a converted block may each require a licence; ask the council about block licensing.

  Apply on the council’s websiteLicence conditions
  ›How we checked this

  Current pages confirm five-plus mandatory threshold. HMO Licensing Policy 2020 approved in signed delegated decision dated 14 October 2020, published in 15 October agenda, states up to five years and typical renewal end five years from previous expiry, with shorter licences for management/fit-and-proper/enforcement/planning concerns. Current application page also warns missing required planning permission may lead to shorter terms. Current HMO standards are March 2026 and apply alongside property-specific licence conditions; do not rely on old policy fee/standards appendices as current charges. Application requires current gas/electrical documents, relevant fire-alarm certificate and floor plan. Apply/renew links are on the current page; save progress is not submission. Page says statutory process within twelve months, possibly extended once for complexity, while currently processing within three months. Some application-page paragraphs retain old £30000 and Section 21 language alongside newer £40000/24-month-RRO text; current adopted 2026 enforcement/penalty policies take precedence. The 2020 policy expressly says selective/additional powers had not been adopted; current mandatory guidance and broadened official council/committee searches found no active/future/recent-expired discretionary designation or live scheme consultation as of research date. This is not a guarantee about unpublished proposals.

  Sources

  • plymouth.gov.uk: houses multiple occupation hmo
  • plymouth.gov.uk: apply house multiple occupation hmo licence
  • plymouth.gov.uk: block accommodation
  • plymouth.gov.uk: standards and managing hmo
  • plymouth.gov.uk: hmo standards
  • plymouth.gov.uk: HMO Standards March 2026 (PDF)
  • democracy.plymouth.gov.uk: 1.3 App B Draft HMO Licensing Policy 2020 (PDF)
  • democracy.plymouth.gov.uk: 2020 10 14 1.1 Executive Delegated Decision HMO Licensing Policy 2020 (PDF)
  • plymouth.gov.uk: housing enforcement policy

Council source

Plymouth's civil penalty policy

We found no consultations when we researched Plymouth.

We could not settle these points when we researched Plymouth on 15 October 2026. Check them with the council before you rely on them.

• Not yet confirmed

  Obtain an explicit present-day council confirmation of no selective/additional designation, approval, current consultation or expiry in the preceding twelve months. Current mandatory guidance, 2020 policy statement and targeted current council/committee searches found none; historical absence alone does not prove current absence.

• Not yet confirmed

  Confirm effective date/fee-year and current payment-stage split for the published £1097/£1040 fees, including any block-accommodation calculation. No split or per-room amount inferred from historical appendices.

• Not yet confirmed

  Confirm whether a later general HMO licensing policy or full standard licence-condition instrument supersedes the signed 2020 policy. Current March 2026 standards are available and current 2026 enforcement policies supersede historical enforcement language.

• Not yet confirmed

  Use the sealed Article 4 plan for exact properties: neighbourhood names are not whole current wards, and the area map is not an address-level legal opinion. No ward polygon extraction or automatic partial-road match introduced.

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Plymouth is in South West, where registration is planned from 15 August 2027 to 14 November 2027. The regulations are still in draft. Read about the register