Licensing in Tameside

Tameside 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 only19

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 Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council district, including its constituent towns; not neighbouring Manchester, Stockport or other Greater Manchester authorities.
Fee
Published standard fee: £1,025
Published 2026/27 council fees schedule: HMO licence base fee £1,025, plus a separate £45 additional amount per habitable room. The schedule does not explain which habitable rooms are counted or whether any rooms are included in the base; £1,025 is therefore not a confirmed all-in property price. No separate renewal tariff, payment-stage split or discount was established. The same figures appear in Appendix 6 of the 2 March 2026 Council budget papers; the council subsequently announced approval of its 2026/27 budget. Confirm the property-specific calculation and invoice with Housing Standards.
Who needs one
HMOs occupied by five or more people forming two or more households, sharing facilities such as kitchens or bathrooms, regardless of the number of storeys. Statutory building and occupation exclusions still apply.
Exemptions
Current council guidance lists statutory exclusions including qualifying public-body and educational management, owner occupation with no more than two lodgers, religious communities and certain converted blocks. Whole converted blocks and individual flats require their separate legal tests; the fact that a building is an HMO does not by itself make it mandatory-licensable.
Apply on the council’s website
How we checked this
Current HMO guidance expressly says that properties outside its five-person licensing criteria do not need to apply. The September 2025 Article 4 evidence report separately states that no selective licensing areas are designated; the housing strategy contemplates gathering evidence for possible selective licensing, not an approved designation. Targeted current council and committee searches did not establish an additional or selective designation, defined live housing-licensing consultation, approved future scheme or optional scheme ending since 15 October 2025. The borough-wide Article 4 direction is a separate planning control and does not create additional HMO licensing. A council scrutiny record of the October 2024 scoping discussions says an HMO licence lasts five years and the same application process applies at renewal; confirm the actual term and any shorter period on the issued licence. Request the application form from Housing Standards on 0161 342 3323. The current page lists fire, electrical, appliance and gas safety certificates, plans, relevant-person disclosure and further requested documents. Some terminology and penalty statements on that page are old; they are not treated as current law or current penalty limits. No complete current standard licence conditions were recovered. The final scrutiny report also considers additional licensing as a possible control rather than recording an adopted designation. The council’s current HMO supplementary planning document page confirms adoption on 29 June 2026 after consultation from 11 May to 8 June; that planning guidance does not introduce housing licensing.
Sources

Article 4 for house shares

Tameside 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: Whole borough for changes of use from C3 dwellinghouses to C4 small HMOs. Current planning guidance states the direction took effect on 2 October 2025. The sealed instrument was visually inspected: made 29 September 2025 and confirmed under seal on 26 March 2026; its plan covers the whole borough. The confirmation press notice independently gives the same making and confirmation dates. These are distinct from the earlier Cabinet approval and later decision-publication dates. Order and plan: https://www.tameside.gov.uk/documents/d/guest/sealed-confirmation-of-article-4-1-direction-pdf ; confirmation notice: https://www.tameside.gov.uk/documents/d/guest/art-4d-notice-of-confirmation-pdf . A housing licence does not itself grant planning permission.
Takes effect: 2 Oct 2025

Council source

Civil penalty policy

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

The retrieved July 2024 policy appendix is an older Housing and Planning Act 2016 policy, with a harm/culpability band matrix, midpoint starting amounts, £1,000 aggravating/mitigating adjustments within bands and a possible corrective-action reduction of up to 30% before the final notice. It is not evidence of an adopted Renters’ Rights Act 2025 replacement or current post-May 2026 penalty limits. The 25 September 2024 Cabinet report recommended the policy and powers to Council; the council’s 2 October 2024 release said Cabinet had approved plans, but final Council adoption and any later amendments were not recovered. As at 15 October 2026, the current forward-plan issue is For Determination, first published 8 October, with a housing civil-penalty policy decision due at Executive Cabinet on 25 November 2026. Future issue: tameside.moderngov.co.uk . A separate Housing Standards Enforcement Policy is also scheduled for that meeting. Do not treat a scheduled decision as adoption or assume that the older appendix governs a current case. Transitional application and the operative replacement remain to be confirmed. Forward plan: tameside.moderngov.co.uk .

Tameside's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched Tameside.

Not yet confirmed

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

Not yet confirmed
Confirm how the £45 per-habitable-room supplement is calculated, which rooms count, and whether any are included in the £1,025 base. Obtain a current property-specific total, separate renewal rate if any, payment stages and any discounts; do not use a third-party flat fee.
Not yet confirmed
Obtain complete current standard HMO licence conditions and confirm the licence term and any shorter-period criteria. The available current application page lists documents but does not provide a complete issued licence.
Not yet confirmed
Recover final Council adoption and any revisions of the 2024 civil-penalty policy, and the operative policy for breaches or offences from 1 May 2026. Follow the scheduled 25 November 2026 civil-penalty and Housing Standards Enforcement Policy decisions; neither is treated as approved at this research date.
Not yet confirmed
Confirm any later additional or selective designation or defined licensing consultation directly with Housing Standards. Current HMO guidance and the fetched selective-licensing evidence support the present mandatory-only record; strategic exploration is not a made scheme.
Not yet confirmed
Check planning permission and established lawful use separately against the confirmed borough-wide Article 4 direction. The operative date, making date and confirmation date are different events.

Landlord register

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