Bromley: mandatory HMO licensing only, with borough-wide planning controls
Bromley states that it operates only the Mandatory HMO Licensing Scheme. The current threshold is five or more tenants, including a live-in landlord with four or more tenants, in two or more households sharing facilities. Licences last five years and the two-stage fee starts at £1,589 plus £1,059 for up to five units.
Mandatory licensing only
Bromley says it only operates the Mandatory HMO Licensing Scheme. Licensing applies to five or more tenants in two or more households sharing a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. The guidance also covers a live-in landlord with four or more tenants. Count households and shared facilities against the actual arrangement.
The fee scales by unit
For up to five units, the displayed Part 1 fee is £1,589 on application and Part 2 is £1,059 when the council is ready to grant. Each additional unit adds £318 to Part 1 and £212 to Part 2. The licence lasts five years and must be renewed before expiry.
Use the public protection portal
Applications and renewals use Bromley's Public Protection portal, which also provides a View Licence Register link. The HMO-specific contents of that register were not independently verified from the fetched page, so confirm the property record and licence conditions directly when taking over a property.
Planning permission may be a second gate
An Article 4 direction confirmed on 8 February 2022 removed permitted-development rights for HMO conversion. An immediate direction covered Biggin Hill and Darwin wards, while the non-immediate direction covered the remaining wards with borough-wide effect from 1 September 2022. Planning permission and licensing are separate requirements.
Enforcement details are incomplete
Bromley states that unlicensed operation is an offence and may result in a court fine. The current civil-penalty maximum, detailed rent repayment order process, Temporary Exemption Notice route, transfer rules and exact selective-designation status are UNVERIFIED - could not confirm on council website. No current selective scheme was found in the reviewed council material, but that is not conclusive proof of absence.
Verify current Bromley licence types, fees, portal register and Article 4 directions via the council's official housing and planning pages. Illustrative guide - scheme and enforcement details change; general information, not legal advice.
Renewal tracked from expiry, reminders from 60 days out, proof of service to tenants logged. Knows the 2-month early-renewal rule that keeps your date fixed.
Five years goes quicker than you think. Kept remembers so you don't have to - including the 28-day duty to give tenants a copy.
Expiry tracked from the certificate details you confirm - band E is the current minimum for most domestic private lets unless exempt, and proposed changes are flagged only when they become law.
30-day protection window tracked from the day the money lands - not the tenancy date - with prescribed information logged.
Check dates and follow-up dates for time-limited permissions, stored against each tenant.
Smoke alarms every storey, CO alarms where required, checked and dated at the start of every tenancy.
A one-off duty for tenancies that existed on 1 May 2026. Who was served, when, and how - the £7,000 question, answered with a dated record.
Preparation and export support for the future official registration process - clearly marked as planned.
Selective licensing: No current scheme stated - verify. See the local picture above - every other duty applies exactly as it does nationwide.
Add a postcode and Kept resolves the council, location and local context automatically.
Planned preparation and export support for the government's regional PRS Database rollout.