Hounslow: borough-wide small-HMO licensing under a new 2025 scheme
Hounslow operates two licensing schemes - mandatory and additional - with no selective licensing published. Its additional HMO scheme was redesignated on 11 September 2025 and applies borough-wide from 11 December 2025, replacing the previous scheme that ran to 2025. Because it's borough-wide there's no map to check: if you let to three or more people in two or more households anywhere in Hounslow, you need a licence.
The scheme is new - the old one has ended
This is where Hounslow landlords slip. The borough's previous additional licensing scheme has ended and been replaced by the 2025 designation. A licence issued under the old scheme does not carry across, and the new designation covers all section 254 HMOs occupied by three or more persons in two or more households, plus section 257 converted buildings where the building and all its dwellings are under the same ownership or effective control. If your licence dates from the previous scheme, check where it now stands.
Fees and the accreditation discount
The base fee is £1,608, reduced to £1,509 for accredited landlords, plus £25 per household. Hounslow recognises accreditation from LLAS, NLA, RLA, ARLA, NALS, RICS and UKALA. The discount is modest but the accreditation itself is usually worth having for other reasons. Refunds are only given for genuine mistakes - not for withdrawal, refusal, revocation, or the property ceasing to be let as an HMO.
Avoiding licensing shortens your licence
Licences last five years, but Hounslow states it will normally issue a one-year licence where there are management or condition concerns, or where there has been deliberate avoidance of licensing. Applying late is therefore expensive twice over - once in the penalty, and again in paying the full fee for a fifth of the term.
Planning is part of the licence decision
Hounslow is explicit that licensing is separate from planning permission, but that it considers planning status and wider neighbourhood issues when deciding a licence application - and gives no refund if planning permission is subsequently refused. Sort the planning position first. Letting unlicensed risks unlimited fines on prosecution, a financial penalty of up to £30,000, entry on the rogue landlord database, rent repayment orders, an interim management order, and no ability to serve a section 21 notice.
Verify the current designation, fees and penalties via Hounslow Council's HMO licensing pages and its licensed HMO register. Illustrative guide - designations and fees 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.
Additional HMO licensing (3+ occupants): YES - borough-wide from 11 Dec 2025. 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.