Licensing in South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

Checked 15 Oct 2026

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Licensing, ward by ward

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National rules only28

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: Yes
Consultation: None open

Licensing schemes

Mandatory HMO licence
In force
Mandatory HMO licensing
Area
Whole South Gloucestershire Council district. This is separate from Bristol City Council and from the partial HMO Article 4 planning area.
Fee
Published standard fee: £936
Current council page states £936 for up to five units of accommodation from 1 April 2026, plus £46 for each additional unit. A completed form and full licence fee are required for a valid application. Units of accommodation must not be assumed to mean occupants or bedrooms. No separate renewal tariff, discount or early-bird offer was confirmed.
Who needs one
HMOs rented to five or more people forming two or more households, where some or all tenants share a bathroom or kitchen and at least one pays rent or has rent paid by an employer, subject to statutory exclusions.
Apply on the council’s website Licence conditions
How we checked this
Current council guidance explicitly says it operates only the national mandatory HMO licensing scheme. No active additional or selective designation, approved future licensing scheme, defined live licensing consultation or local scheme ending in the last twelve months was established by current council, consultation and committee searches. The Article 4 business case considered additional/selective licensing as an alternative but did not recommend it; this is not a licensing designation. Licences last up to five years and may be shorter where management or property condition causes concern. Renew before expiry; licences cannot be transferred to another owner or family member. The current downloadable form allows a shorter renewal application where there have been no material property changes. Supporting documents, property details, plans and fit-and-proper declarations are required. Council conditions include annual gas certification, smoke alarms, appropriate rooms and amenities and notification of relevant changes. A fire risk assessment is required to be held and reviewed but is not routinely required with the application. The currently linked amenity standards are dated November 2018; the conditions on the issued licence govern.
Sources

Article 4 for house shares

South Gloucestershire has an Article 4 direction on HMOs (houses in multiple occupation, or shared houses). Turning a family home into a shared house may need planning permission.

Area: Two mapped areas only: Stoke Park and Cheswick ward and the area east of Southmead Road and Gloucester Road North within Filton ward. Not all Filton, all South Gloucestershire or Bristol. The sealed direction was made 4 January 2023, confirmed under seal on 9 August 2023 and took effect 10 January 2024. It removes permitted development for C3 dwellinghouse to C4 small-HMO conversion. All four pages of the confirmed order were visually inspected, including the two red-edged plans; those plans retain proposed headings despite being attached to the sealed confirmation. Use the exact red boundary for an edge property. Sealed order and plans: https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/gf2.ti/f/1474178/176290853.1/PDF/-/Direction%20-%202nd%20Seal%20090823.pdf . Notice dated 14 August 2023: https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/gf2.ti/f/1474178/176291013.1/PDF/-/Direction%20Notice%20A4D.rtf%20-%20Final.pdf . Current council guidance distinguishes established small HMOs operating before commencement from new conversions.
Takes effect: 10 Jan 2024

Council source

Civil penalty policy

The council's policy sets how it decides the size of a fine.

The current landlord page links the November 2024 policy, whose approval page is dated 9 January 2025, Place Operations Board. It predates the Renters’ Rights Act and uses the earlier £30,000 maximum. Its historical unlicensed-HMO starting point is £12,500, adjusted to £7,500 or £17,500 by portfolio/experience, with a 15% prompt-payment discount normally within 28 days. Those figures are not asserted as the current RRA matrix. The council’s current landlord duties page explains the newer £7,000 and £40,000 powers, but a replacement adopted local policy, matrix and effective date were not recovered. Check the applicable policy and offence date. Current RRA guidance: beta.southglos.gov.uk .

South Gloucestershire's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched South Gloucestershire.

Not yet confirmed

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

Not yet confirmed
Confirm the council’s fee interpretation of units of accommodation, any distinct renewal rate and any available discount before calculating the total. The live rate is £936 plus £46 for each unit above five, effective 1 April 2026.
Not yet confirmed
Recover the adopted current Renters’ Rights Act civil penalty policy, matrix and adoption/effective date. The current-linked November 2024 policy approved January 2025 is older; current national-power guidance does not prove local adoption.
Not yet confirmed
Check the exact property against the sealed HMO Article 4 plans, especially around the partial Filton boundary. A Filton ward name alone does not establish that the direction covers the property.
Not yet confirmed
Obtain property-specific issued licence conditions and confirm any changes to the currently linked November 2018 amenity standards. No later additional/selective licensing designation or defined consultation was established in this research.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. South Gloucestershire 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