Council licensing in East of England
Licensing in West Suffolk
West Suffolk has no selective or additional licensing scheme in force.
Checked 14 Oct 2026
Check an address in West Suffolk
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 only43
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
- None found
- Consultation
- None open
Licensing schemes
Mandatory HMO licence
In forceMandatory HMO licensing (national scheme, West Suffolk fees)
- Area
The whole of West Suffolk (national scheme).
- Fee
£670
From the council's 'House in multiple occupancy licence fees' page (HMO Fee Review 2024, fee structure in force from 1 April 2025). Paid in two stages: new licence Stage 1 £460 with the application and Stage 2 £210 when the council decides it intends to grant (total £670); renewal £335 + £215 (£550); variation £110; revocation and temporary exemption notice free. A licence is not issued until both stages are paid. Refunds only for duplicate applications or where Stage 1 review finds no licence is needed.
- Who needs one
- HMOs that house five or more people who do not form a single household and share facilities such as a bathroom or kitchen.
- Exemptions
- Statutory exemptions under Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004.
How we checked this
This is the national scheme. West Suffolk publishes its own HMO licence and fee pages. Applicants complete the PDF application form and upload it with supporting documents to the council's Regulatory Submission Form, where the fee is paid. The fee page states: 'The council has not sought to adopt additional or selective licensing and as such only those properties that are occupied by five or more persons that do not form a single household would require a licence.' Temporary exemption notices are issued only in exceptional circumstances, for three months each and no more than two per property. A council news release of 14 July 2026 says there are 116 licensed HMOs and 96 known smaller HMOs in West Suffolk. The licence length is not stated on the council's licensing pages.
Article 4 for house shares
We found no Article 4 direction on house shares in West Suffolk.
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.
The policy 'Housing civil penalties under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and other housing legislation' (June 2026) applies to offences or breaches from 1 May 2026; earlier offences fall under the West Suffolk Council Civil Penalty Policy 2025. Failure to obtain an HMO licence (s.72(1)) starts at £17,000, with a landlord-type adjustment (£13,600 down, £20,400 up) and a statutory maximum of £40,000, before mitigating and aggravating factors. A 15% discount applies for prompt payment of the final notice.
Consultations
We found no consultations when we researched West Suffolk.
Not yet confirmed
We could not settle these points when we researched West Suffolk on 14 October 2026. Check them with the council before you rely on them.
- Not yet confirmed
Cabinet was due to consider the HMO and Article 4 report the week after 14 July 2026; the Cabinet decision itself was not retrieved.
- Not yet confirmed
The HMO licence length is not stated on the council's licensing pages.
- Not yet confirmed
No published HMO licence conditions document was found.
- Not yet confirmed
No selective or additional licensing proposal or consultation was found; the council's fee page states it has not sought to adopt either. Committee papers were not searched directly.
Landlord register
The national landlord register is separate from licensing. West Suffolk is in East of England, where registration is planned from 15 January 2027 to 14 April 2027. The regulations are still in draft. Read about the register