Selective & Additional Licensing London — Electrical Requirements by Borough

Only if the property is in a borough or ward designated for selective licensing under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004. As of June 2026, borough-wide selective licensing operates in Newham (council-wide since 2014, renewed 2023), Waltham Forest (since 2015, renewed), Croydon and Brent. Designated-ward selective licensing operates in parts of Hackney, Lambeth, Lewisham, Camden, Islington, Tower Hamlets, Westminster, Haringey, Ealing, Enfield and Redbridge. Boroughs like Bromley, Bexley and Sutton currently do not operate selective licensing — check your specific council site for the live designation map.

Mandatory HMO licensing applies nationwide where the property has 5+ persons forming 2+ households sharing facilities. Additional HMO licensing is council-discretionary and typically applies to smaller HMOs from 3 persons upward in designated areas — Newham and Waltham Forest run it from 3 persons. Selective licensing is the broadest scheme: it applies to all privately rented property in the designated area regardless of HMO status. A single-family let in a selective-licensing area still needs a licence.

Application fees vary widely by borough. A typical fee structure has a per-application admin charge (£200–£400) plus a per-property element (£300–£700), giving total fees per property in the £500–£1,150 range. Newham, Waltham Forest and Westminster tend to sit at the upper end (£700–£1,150). Bromley, Bexley and Harrow would sit at the lower end if their schemes go live. Fees are not directly comparable across boroughs because some include HMO additional licensing in the same fee while others run them as separate applications.

In a borough or ward designated for selective licensing, every privately rented dwelling is in scope unless specifically excluded. Exclusions include properties already licensed as HMOs under mandatory or additional schemes (you license under the higher scheme only), properties let to family members, holiday lets, and student halls of residence under separate management codes. Buy-to-let single-family lets, Airbnb medium-term lets converted to AST, and converted-flat lets are all in scope.

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 require an EICR less than 5 years old at any tenancy grant or renewal. Most councils require the EICR to be in date at application AND to remain in date through the council's 8–12 week processing window. An EICR that expires during processing is grounds for refusal. We recommend renewing if the EICR is within 6 months of expiry at the date of application.

For non-HMO selective-licensed properties: interlinked smoke alarms on every storey with a habitable room and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance, per the 2022 amendment to the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations. For HMOs under additional or mandatory licensing: a BS 5839-6 Grade D1 LD2 interlinked smoke and heat alarm certificate, plus a written Fire Risk Assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Communal-area HMOs also need BS 5266 emergency lighting.

Yes. The 2022 amendment to the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 requires interlinked alarms on every storey with a habitable room in all rented properties from 1 October 2022 onward. The amendment does not specify radio-interlinked versus hardwired-interlinked — either is compliant. Council selective-licensing officers want to see either an installation certificate from a competent installer or a written commissioning statement confirming interlinking and battery backup.

Councils target 8–12 weeks from a complete application. Newham routinely meets 8 weeks. Waltham Forest, Croydon and Brent meet 10–12 weeks for clean applications. Designated-ward councils (Hackney, Lambeth, Camden) take 12 weeks plus on average because of higher application volumes and lower per-borough scheme capacity. Applications with missing certificates or wrong-format EICR/FRA can stall at admin stage for weeks before review begins — front-loading the paperwork is the simplest way to keep processing tight.

A refusal must come with written reasons. The most common reasons are out-of-date EICR, unresolved C1/C2/FI codes, missing fire-alarm certificate, missing FRA for HMOs, or owner not a fit-and-proper person under Schedule 4 of the Housing Act 2004. You have 28 days to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). In practice, most refusals are resolved by submitting the corrected paperwork as a fresh application — appeal is appropriate only where the council's reasons are factually wrong.

Yes. The council can revoke under Section 70 of the Housing Act 2004 for non-compliance with license conditions, conviction for relevant offences, or where the licensee ceases to be fit and proper. The 2020 Electrical Safety Standards Regulations breach (failure to maintain a valid EICR, failure to complete remedial within 28 days) can trigger a Section 70 revocation in addition to the £30,000 civil penalty. Where a license is revoked, the property reverts to unlicensed status and continued letting is a criminal offence.

A selective licence is not transferable between owners. The new owner must apply for a fresh licence in their own name — typically within 28 days of completion. Most councils run a streamlined transfer-style application where the property's existing certification carries over if still in date. Sellers should confirm at exchange that the buyer is aware of the borough's licensing scheme and the cost of the fresh application. Failure to license post-completion exposes the new owner to civil penalty fines from day one.

Each property is licensed independently in its own borough. There is no London-wide register. For portfolios spanning Newham, Waltham Forest, Croydon and Brent the simplest approach is a single annual renewal calendar with all four boroughs aligned to the same anniversary visit per property. We hold the per-property certificate dates centrally and submit the EICR and fire-alarm cert to each council's portal on the property's anniversary. Some boroughs offer multi-property discounts on application fees — typically 5+ properties licensed by a single landlord in the same scheme.