Landlord licensing and compliance in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire County Council is not the licensing authority for private rented homes. Housing, licensing, environmental health and most planning decisions sit with the district or borough council, so a property postcode is needed to establish its local requirements.
Find the right local authority
Hertfordshire County Council identifies ten district and borough councils: Broxbourne, Dacorum, East Hertfordshire, Hertsmere, North Hertfordshire, St Albans, Stevenage, Three Rivers, Watford and Welwyn Hatfield. The county council's own information assigns housing and licensing services to this district or borough tier. Use the property postcode to identify the correct authority; do not treat one district's scheme as county-wide.
Check licensing and planning separately
The national mandatory HMO scheme applies to qualifying large HMOs, but its application is handled by the relevant district or borough council. Selective and additional licensing, fees, licence terms, registers, enforcement and any HMO Article 4 Direction are also local. The county planning pages do not establish a county-wide HMO planning direction.
Sources: Hertfordshire County Council information on how the council works, district and borough councils, business licences and planning. Local licensing status, fees, terms, enforcement and Article 4 controls are UNVERIFIED - could not confirm on council website without a property district. Illustrative guide - scheme boundaries and dates 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): UNVERIFIED - could not confirm on council website; check the relevant district or borough council. 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.