Council licensing in East of England
Licensing in South Cambridgeshire
South Cambridgeshire has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.
Checked 14 Oct 2026
Check an address in South Cambridgeshire
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 forceMandatory HMO licensing (national scheme, South Cambridgeshire fees)
- Area
The whole of South Cambridgeshire District (national scheme).
- Fee
£895 for 5 years
HMO Licence Fees 2026/2027 (page last reviewed 1 April 2026): £895 for a five-year licence for up to 5 bedrooms, plus £36 for each additional bedroom. Renewal £544 for up to 5 bedrooms, plus £24 per additional bedroom. The council may need to inspect the HMO before an application is considered.
- Who needs one
- HMOs occupied by five or more people forming two or more households who share basic amenities. The council's private renting legislation page describes it as 'mandatory licensing of HMO's where 5 or more occupants live in a house in multiple occupancy'.
- Exemptions
- Statutory exemptions under Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004 apply; the council pages do not list them.
How we checked this
This is the national scheme. South Cambridgeshire publishes its own HMO pages and 2026/27 fees, with online forms to apply and to renew (forms.scambs.gov.uk). It also publishes HMO amenity standards and a public register of licensed HMOs. No selective or additional licensing scheme, proposal or consultation was found; the council's private renting legislation page mentions the powers to introduce additional and selective licensing but no scheme.
Article 4 for house shares
We found no Article 4 direction on house shares in South Cambridgeshire.
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 only civil penalty document found is the 'Civil Penalties Procedure & Guidance, Housing and Planning Act 2016' (Shared Waste & Environment, May 2021), published in the council's committee papers as a draft under the 2021 Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy. It sets a maximum of £30,000 and covers failure to license an HMO (s.72) and a selectively licensable house (s.95). Penalties come from culpability and harm scores giving five bands: £600 to £1,200, £1,200 to £3,000, £3,000 to £6,000, £6,000 to £15,000 and £15,000 to £30,000, with further amounts added for the landlord's income and track record. The approach is based on Nottingham City Council's model. The council's Renters' Rights Act page mentions 'larger civil penalties' but links no updated policy.
Consultations
We found no consultations when we researched South Cambridgeshire.
Not yet confirmed
We could not settle these points when we researched South Cambridgeshire 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, and the current adopted version of the 2021 civil penalty procedure is not published on scambs.gov.uk. The committee site (scambs.moderngov.co.uk) returns 403 to automated requests, so 2025 to 2026 Cabinet papers could not be searched.
- Not yet confirmed
No selective or additional licensing scheme, proposal or consultation was found on the council site or by web search; committee papers could not be searched.
- Not yet confirmed
No HMO licence conditions document was found on the council's HMO pages.
Landlord register
The national landlord register is separate from licensing. South Cambridgeshire 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