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Licensing in West Lancashire

West Lancashire has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.

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Check an address in West Lancashire

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 only15

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
Not yet confirmed
Consultation
None open

Licensing schemes

  • Mandatory HMO licence

    In forceMedium confidence

    Mandatory HMO licensing (West Lancashire)

    Area

    Whole borough of West Lancashire (national scheme).

    Fee

    Not yet confirmed

    No fee is published on the council's HMO page; applications go through the GOV.UK portal.

    Who needs one
    HMOs occupied by five or more people forming two or more households.
    Apply on the council’s website
    How we checked this

    The council says it 'has decided to allow a 4 week grace period for an application to be made before enforcement action is taken' where an unlicensed HMO is found. The page still cites a £30,000 civil penalty maximum.

    Sources

Article 4 for house shares

Not yet confirmed

Whether West Lancashire has an Article 4 direction on house shares.

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.

Civil Penalties Charging Policy 2017, linked from the council's Civil Penalties and Rent Repayment Orders page, which says 'the maximum amount being £30,000'. The Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy is also dated 2017 (enforcement page last updated 2 January 2026). The policy PDF (2017) covers HMO (s.72) and selective (s.95) licensing offences and a civil penalty 'of up to £30,000'.

West Lancashire's civil penalty policy

Consultations

We found no consultations when we researched West Lancashire.

Not yet confirmed

We could not settle these points when we researched West Lancashire. Check them with the council before you rely on them.

  • Not yet confirmed

    No selective or additional licensing scheme was found. Checked: the private housing hub and all its subpages (tenant and landlord advice, HMO, enforcement, civil penalties). The council does not state the absence; committee papers were not searched.

  • Not yet confirmed

    The HMO licence fee and licence term are not published on the council pages fetched.

  • Not yet confirmed

    No civil penalty policy updated for the Renters' Rights Act 2025 was found; the 2017 policy uses a £30,000 maximum.

  • Not yet confirmed

    Article 4: whether West Lancashire has an HMO (C3 to C4) Article 4 direction is not confirmed. Checked: the council's planning pages (Article 4 mentioned only generically) and planning.data.gov.uk (no Article 4 records for the council). None was found, but absence is inferred, not stated by the council; confirm with its planning team.

Landlord register

The national landlord register is separate from licensing. West Lancashire 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