Croydon's licensing is back: 14 wards from 25 September 2026
Croydon went five years without a borough-wide licensing scheme after its previous one ended in 2020. That gap closes on 25 September 2026, when selective licensing applies to all privately rented properties in fourteen named wards. A separate additional HMO licensing designation was made on 25 March 2026. If you let in Croydon, this is the year your obligations change.
The fourteen wards
Selective licensing applies in Addiscombe East, Addiscombe West, Bensham Manor, Broad Green, Fairfield, Norbury and Pollards Hill, Norbury Park, Selhurst, South Croydon, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Waddon, West Thornton and Woodside. You'll need a licence if the property is rented to a single household such as a family, let to a single tenant, or rented by two individuals sharing. If it's a House in Multiple Occupation in one of those wards, HMO licensing requirements apply instead.
One licence, not two
If your property is already licensed under Croydon's mandatory HMO scheme or under the additional HMO designation made on 25 March 2026, you do not also need a selective licence for the same property. The schemes are layered, not stacked - but you must be under the right one. Registered social landlord tenancies, properties under interim or final management orders, and those with a temporary exemption under section 86 of the Housing Act 2004 are outside the scheme.
Don't wait for the start date to get the paperwork right
Applications open ahead of the 25 September 2026 start, and licence applications in practice ask for the documents you should already hold: gas safety record, EICR, EPC, deposit protection details and evidence of management arrangements. Landlords who've been letting in Croydon since 2020 without a licensing regime often find these have quietly drifted out of date. Licences are granted for up to five years - shorter where the council has concerns about compliance or management.
Verify your ward via the Croydon Observatory or the council's selective licensing map, and check the current scheme pages before applying. Illustrative guide - dates and designations 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 (ordinary lets): 14 wards from 25 Sep 2026. 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.