# Licensing in West Berkshire > West Berkshire has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force. - Checked 26 Oct 2026 (researched_at 2026-10-26, verified_at 2026-10-26) - Region: South East - ONS code: E06000037 - Web page: https://lettance.com/councils/west-berkshire - API: https://lettance.com/api/v1/councils/west-berkshire ## Licensing schemes ### Mandatory HMO licence: Mandatory HMO licensing (administered by the Public Protection Partnership) - Status: In force (`in_force`) - Area: Whole West Berkshire Council area (national scheme). - Fee: Not yet confirmed. The HMO page says 'The HMO application fee is reviewed annually' and links to the Public Protection Partnership fees and charges page, which lists no HMO fee and asks applicants to contact licensing@westberks.gov.uk. No current fee confirmed. - Who needs one: HMOs occupied by five or more people forming two or more households who share basic amenities, meeting the standard, self-contained flat or converted building test. The council's HMO page (served by the Public Protection Partnership) says these 'are required to be licenced with us'. - Apply: https://www.gov.uk/house-in-multiple-occupation-licence - Confidence: Medium - How we checked this: westberks.gov.uk/houses-multiple-occupation redirects to the Public Protection Partnership (PPP) HMO page; the PPP fees page says it 'provides chargeable services on behalf of two authorities, Bracknell Forest Council and West Berkshire Council'. Applications are made online; the PPP page lists the documents needed (application form, fee, floor plan, fire risk assessment, photo ID, proof of address, EICR, gas, fire alarm, PAT and emergency lighting certificates) and says a public register is kept. The researcher also cited the Environmental Health Housing Policy 2025-2028 (Appendix 3 to the 9 March 2026 Joint Public Protection Committee) as naming only the mandatory HMO scheme; the council's committee site (decisionmaking.westberks.gov.uk) did not respond during verification, so that document was not re-read. Pages were fetched through a browser because automated fetches return 403. - Sources: https://www.westberks.gov.uk/houses-multiple-occupation, https://www.publicprotectionpartnership.org.uk/houses-in-multiple-occupation-hmo, https://publicprotectionpartnership.org.uk/fees-and-charges/, https://decisionmaking.westberks.gov.uk/documents/s141754/10.%20Environmental%20Health%20EH%20Housing%20Policy%2025%20-%2028%20Appendix%203.pdf ## Article 4 for house shares Not yet confirmed: whether West Berkshire has an Article 4 direction on house shares. Council source: https://www.planning.data.gov.uk/entity/?dataset=article-4-direction-area&geometry_curie=statistical-geography:E06000037 ## Civil penalty policy The council's policy sets how it decides the size of a fine. Reported by the researcher from the council's committee site: on 9 March 2026 the Joint Public Protection Committee (Bracknell Forest and West Berkshire) approved use of the Justice for Tenants model Civil Penalty Policy for the Renters' Rights Act 2025, with a 15% prompt-payment discount and MHCLG statutory-guidance starting points (council-set levels only for licence-condition breaches). decisionmaking.westberks.gov.uk did not respond to automated or browser requests on 26 October 2026, so this could not be independently re-checked; updated_for_renters_rights_act is left null until it is. Specific penalty amounts were not extracted. Policy: https://decisionmaking.westberks.gov.uk/documents/s141753/10.%20JFT%20Model%20Civil%20Financial%20Penalty%20Policy%20-%20Appendix%202.pdf ## Consultations We found no consultations when we researched West Berkshire. ## Not yet confirmed We could not settle these points when we researched West Berkshire on 26 October 2026. Check them with the council before you rely on them. - Current mandatory HMO licence fee and licence length are not published on the HMO or PPP fees pages; confirm with the council (licensing@westberks.gov.uk) or the annual fees and charges report. - No selective or additional licensing scheme, proposal or consultation was found: the PPP HMO page and the PPP fees page mention only mandatory licensing; the council does not state the absence outright. Committee papers could not be searched during verification (site unreachable). - Confirm the permitted development rights removed by each of the nine site-specific Article 4 directions on planning.data.gov.uk (none is named as an HMO direction); the council's own Article 4 list was not read. - Re-check the 9 March 2026 Joint Public Protection Committee decision and the model Civil Penalty Policy (decisionmaking.westberks.gov.uk was unreachable during verification), and confirm the updated PPP housing enforcement policy and its penalty levels. ## Landlord register The national landlord register is separate from licensing. West Berkshire 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/west-berkshire (catalogue edition 31 October 2026). This is information, not legal advice. Check the linked sources, and the council's own pages, before you act.