Broxtowe: mandatory HMO licensing and Beeston planning controls
Broxtowe requires a mandatory HMO licence for five or more people forming two or more households. The council displays an £830 application fee, licences may last up to five years and civil penalties can reach £30,000. A future licensing regime is being considered, but no current selective or additional scheme was confirmed.
Mandatory licensing
Broxtowe requires a mandatory HMO licence for five or more people forming two or more households. The council assesses whether the licence holder is fit and proper, checks management arrangements and inspects before issue. A licence may last up to five years, subject to the actual licence and its conditions.
Fee and withdrawal
The HMO application fee is £830 and is VAT exempt. Broxtowe says up to 25% may be refunded if the application is withdrawn before grant or issue. Confirm the current application route and any renewal or variation charge before submitting.
Enforcement and rent repayment
Operating without a licence may lead to an unlimited fine on summary conviction or an alternative civil penalty of up to £30,000. Tenants and local authorities may seek repayment of rent, Housing Benefit or Universal Credit through a rent repayment order. Properly made licence, Temporary Exemption Notice and management-order applications can be relevant exceptions, so keep proof of every submission.
Future policy is not an adopted scheme
Broxtowe's 2025-28 housing strategy says the council will consider whether additional licensing is required, while its corporate plan refers to exploring a new licensing regime. Those are future-policy references, not evidence of an adopted current selective or additional designation. The live position remains UNVERIFIED - could not confirm on council website.
Beeston Article 4 is localised
The confirmed Beeston Article 4 direction requires planning permission for a C3-to-C4 conversion for three to six residents within the mapped area and came into force on 26 March 2022. It is not borough-wide. The HMO Supplementary Planning Document adopted on 2 June 2026 is a material planning consideration, not an Article 4 direction and not a property licence.
The public register needs confirmation
Council material indicates an offline electronic register, but current public-register access was not confirmed in the reviewed pages. Ask Broxtowe to confirm a property's live licence and conditions, especially where a register search is part of a purchase decision. Keep the universal gas, electrical, EPC, deposit, Right to Rent and alarm records current too.
Verify current fees, applications, registers, future scheme decisions and the Beeston planning boundary via Broxtowe Borough Council's official pages. Illustrative guide - licensing and planning policy 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: UNVERIFIED - future policy references. 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.