Council licensing in East of England

Licensing in Rochford

Rochford has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

Checked 14 Oct 2026

Check an address in Rochford

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 only13

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 force
Mandatory HMO licensing (national scheme, Rochford fees)
Area
The whole of Rochford District (national scheme).
Fee
£440 for 5 years
From the council's Fees and Charges Schedule 2026/27 (charges from 1 April 2026): up to 5 bedrooms £440.00, each additional bedroom £69.00, renewal 50% of the fee. The council's 'Applying for a HMO licence' page (last updated 20 April 2023) still shows the 2025/26 figures of £423.92 and £66.55. The licence is payable per property and cannot be transferred; any change in circumstances needs a new application and fee.
Who needs one
HMOs (other than section 257 HMOs and flats in larger purpose-built blocks) occupied by five or more people living in two or more separate households.
Exemptions
The fee schedule says HMOs owned by a registered charity are exempt from the fee. Statutory exemptions under Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004 apply.
Apply on the council's website
How we checked this
This is the national scheme. Rochford publishes its own pages and fees. Its 'Licensing for certain HMOs' page (last updated 24 April 2026) says 'Rochford District Council operate a mandatory licensing scheme only', so there is no selective or additional licensing. Tacit consent applies if the council has not decided within its 60-day target. Temporary exemption notices are free, issued only in exceptional circumstances, last 3 months and at most two can be issued for a property. A licensing guide for landlords is linked from the application page.
Sources

Article 4 for house shares

We found no Article 4 direction on house shares in Rochford.

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.

'Housing Enforcement Civil Penalties Policy', March 2026, approved by Council on 23 March 2026 (review date October 2026), attached as Appendix C to the Council's Renters' Rights Act 2025 report. Failure to obtain an HMO licence (s.72(1)) starts at £17,000, with a landlord-type adjustment to £13,600 or £20,400, up to the £40,000 maximum, before offence-specific aggravating factors (the landlord's knowledge of licensing and the condition of the property). A 15% discount applies if the penalty is paid in full within the period in the final notice (normally 28 days). The policy was found in the committee papers; no copy was found on the main council website.

Rochford's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched Rochford.

Not yet confirmed

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

Not yet confirmed
The council's HMO application page still shows 2025/26 fees (£423.92 and £66.55); the 2026/27 schedule gives £440 and £69. Confirm which the council charges.
Not yet confirmed
The civil penalties policy was located only in the committee papers (Appendix C); confirm the published final version and where landlords can read it on rochford.gov.uk.
Not yet confirmed
Article 4: absence of a C3 to C4 direction is inferred from the council's conservation areas and HMO pages; no planning-side list of all Article 4 directions was found.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Rochford 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