# Licensing in Thanet > Thanet has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force. - Checked 15 Oct 2026 (researched_at 2026-10-15, verified_at 2026-10-15) - Region: South East - ONS code: E07000114 - Web page: https://lettance.com/councils/thanet - API: https://lettance.com/api/v1/councils/thanet ## Licensing schemes ### Mandatory HMO licence: Mandatory HMO licensing - Status: In force (`in_force`) - Area: Whole Thanet District Council area, including Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate; the former selective licensing polygon covered only part of this district. - Fee: Published standard fee: £1,761. Current mandatory HMO charges apply from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. For two to eight accommodation units, standard non-accredited total £1,761 (£1,033 application plus £728 compliance); accredited total £1,561 (£1,033 plus £528). Early renewal at least six weeks before expiry: non-accredited £1,593 (£865 plus £728), accredited £1,393 (£865 plus £528). Each accommodation unit above eight adds £41 to the application fee. Accreditation means full KLAS/ATLAS or NRLA Accreditation membership, not membership alone. Standard fees apply to new applications and renewals made within six weeks of expiry. The application fee is payable on submission; compliance fee is requested after assessment and before issue. Unpaid compliance can cause withdrawal without application-fee refund. Variations and address updates are free; licences cannot be transferred to a new holder, and early revocation does not receive a pro-rata refund. The council says fees are non-refundable on voluntary withdrawal. - Licence length: 5 years - Who needs one: HMOs occupied by five or more people forming two or more households who share basic amenities, regardless of the number of storeys, subject to statutory exclusions. - Exemptions: Statutory exclusions and temporary exemptions may apply. Ask the council to assess an unusual building, converted flat or exemption before assuming a licence is unnecessary. - Apply: https://www.thanet.gov.uk/info-pages/multiple-occupancy-homes/ - Licence conditions: https://www.thanet.gov.uk/info-pages/multiple-occupancy-homes/ - Confidence: High - How we checked this: The current HMO page confirms the standard, self-contained-flat and partly converted-building tests and five-person threshold, with no storey limit. Its separate description of section 257 converted blocks does not by itself establish that those blocks require a mandatory licence. Maximum licence duration is five years, with shorter terms possible. Published standard conditions include annual gas evidence where applicable, safe appliances/furniture, smoke alarms and written occupation terms; check the issued licence for all current conditions. The page contains older prosecution and rent-repayment wording alongside current fees; do not use the older penalties as the current law. The selective licensing page expressly says its designation has expired and no new selective applications are accepted. The 2016 designation covered parts of the then Margate Central and Cliftonville West wards, with additions on Trinity Square and Northdown Road. The actual public notice starts it on 21 April 2016 and says it shall cease to have effect on 20 April 2021; under that wording its last operative day was 19 April, although web guidance calls 20 April its expiry. This historical disagreement is outside the twelve-month expiry window and is not represented as a current scheme. The legal map overrides road lists: Northdown Road has odd/even numbered limits, Eastern Esplanade is partly included, and Trinity Square is limited to numbers 1–94. The current page warns that existing individual selective licences remain binding until expiry or revocation; check the document rather than assuming all obligations ended with the designation. Council on 11 December 2025 approved £190,000 to progress selective licensing proposals; February 2026 Cabinet minutes refer to a survey. Those are preparatory steps, not approval of a new designation. No current additional HMO designation, formally approved future selective designation, defined live scheme consultation or relevant expiry in the last twelve months was established by targeted current searches. - Sources: https://www.thanet.gov.uk/info-pages/multiple-occupancy-homes/, https://www.thanet.gov.uk/info-pages/fees-and-charges/?question=2336-1, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FPNg6jSjvWQl6MQqlSJeOHT5k7PJY9Rz/view?usp=sharing, https://www.thanet.gov.uk/info-pages/selective-licensing-information/, https://www.thanet.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/SL-PUBLIC-NOTICE-2016-MAP-Mail-out-.pdf, https://democracy.thanet.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=141&MeetingId=7061, https://democracy.thanet.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=151&MeetingId=7260 ## Article 4 for house shares Thanet has an Article 4 direction on HMOs (shared houses). Turning a family home into a shared house may need planning permission. - Area: A district-wide direction removes the C3 dwellinghouse-to-C4 small-HMO permitted development right. Cabinet’s 23 June 2011 confirmation expressly covers the whole Thanet district, not only the former selective licensing area or conservation areas. Official planning evidence also describes district-wide scope. The council’s 2014 housing guidance describes 4 February 2012 as the making date, whereas the 2011 committee record describes a February 2011 direction followed by confirmation. A third-party-hosted copy of the direction was identified but was not independently retrieved, and the complete signed order and attached plan were not obtained. The precise commencement date is left unresolved pending the council’s complete order. Planning control is separate from licensing and does not retrospectively make an established lawful HMO require a change-of-use application. Council source: https://thanet.moderngov.co.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?AIId=10021 ## 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. Cabinet on 2 June 2026 approved the Policy for civil penalties under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 and other housing legislation and delegated later amendments to the Head of Housing and Planning in consultation with the portfolio holder. The published decision gives effect from 11 June 2026 after call-in, replacing the previous policies which it describes as redundant from 1 May. The adopted annex in the Cabinet pack provides £7,000 and £40,000 tiers. Failure to obtain an HMO licence has a £17,000 starting point, with landlord-type figures of £13,600 and £20,400 before case-specific adjustments. It provides a 15% discount for full payment within the final-notice period, normally 28 days beginning the day after the final notice; an appeal does not extend or suspend that discount period. The agenda annex still labels its approval date as expected; the actual adoption and effective date are confirmed by the subsequent decision at https://democracy.thanet.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?Id=5568 . The older financial-penalties page and the 2026/27 fees PDF retain older penalty figures and must not override the later adoption or current statutory ceilings. Check the offence date and any subsequent delegated amendment before applying the policy. Policy: https://thanet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/g7099/Public%20reports%20pack%2002nd-Jun-2026%2019.00%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10 ## Consultations We found no consultations when we researched Thanet. ## Not yet confirmed We could not settle these points when we researched Thanet on 15 October 2026. Check them with the council before you rely on them. - Confirm the latest stage of the proposed selective licensing replacement following the December 2025 research budget and February 2026 survey reference. Obtain any later formal consultation, final designation, boundary, fee and commencement rather than treating preparatory funding as scheme approval. - Confirm any current additional HMO designation. The published statement of no additional scheme is from 2014; no later designation was established, but that historical statement is not definitive current absence. - Check the expiry and conditions of any surviving individual selective licence. The council expressly says existing licences remain binding until expiry or revocation despite designation expiry. - Obtain the complete signed and confirmed district-wide HMO Article 4 order and attached plan. Official committee and later guidance use inconsistent making/commencement descriptions, so the exact effective date remains unresolved. A third-party mirror was identified but not independently retrieved: https://www.planninggeek.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Thanet-HMO-Article-4.pdf . Official planning evidence: https://www.thanet.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Matter-9-TDF.pdf . - Confirm any later amendment under the delegated authority granted in June 2026 and the policy applicable to the offence date. The adopted calculation annex and the June adoption decision have been independently retrieved; the older 2020 PDF and older fee-schedule penalty entries are not treated as the current policy. - Confirm the complete current issued HMO conditions and case-specific accommodation-unit count, accreditation evidence and early-renewal eligibility. ## Landlord register The national landlord register is separate from licensing. Thanet is in South East, where registration is planned from 15 March 2027 to 14 June 2027. The regulations are still in draft. Read about the register: https://lettance.com/register --- From Lettance: https://lettance.com/councils/thanet (catalogue edition 15 October 2026). This is information, not legal advice. Check the linked sources, and the council's own pages, before you act.