Hull: mandatory HMO licensing only, with three local catches
Hull publishes no selective licensing scheme and no additional HMO licensing scheme, so the only licence most landlords here will need is the national mandatory HMO licence - five or more occupants forming two or more households sharing a bathroom or kitchen. Simple in principle. In practice Hull has a few local rules worth knowing before you apply.
All three tests have to be met
Hull states the mandatory test plainly: five or more people, forming two or more separate households, sharing a bathroom or a kitchen. All three criteria must be met - a five-bedroom house let to one family isn't an HMO, and five people in five fully self-contained flats aren't either. Count households and shared facilities, not bedrooms.
Fees are per bedroom, and late renewal costs the same as a new licence
Hull charges in two stages: £225 with the application, then a bed-count-based balance. A three-bed HMO is £225 plus £629.50; a four-bed £225 plus £657.25; a five-bed £225 plus £685, rising by £27.75 per bedroom, with £27.75 for each bedroom above ten. Note the structure: a late renewal of an expired licence is charged on the same scale as a new licence - the saving is in renewing on time, not in the fee table. Applications are online only; paper forms are not accepted.
The licence doesn't come with the building
Hull licences are not transferable on sale. If you buy a licensed HMO, the seller's licence does not pass to you - you apply in your own name, and the property is unlicensed in the meantime unless you've obtained a temporary exemption. This is one of the most common ways a compliant HMO becomes a non-compliant one overnight.
Checking someone else's property, and the register
You can ask the council to confirm a specific property's licence position free of charge through its online form - useful due diligence before a purchase. A full copy of the statutory public register of licensed HMOs is chargeable. The council also runs the Hull Accredited Landlord Scheme, which remains open to new members.
Everything else still applies
No licence needed doesn't mean nothing to do. Annual gas safety, a five-yearly EICR, a valid EPC, deposit protection within 30 days, Right to Rent checks, working smoke and CO alarms and the Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet apply to every Hull tenancy, and the council enforces them under its published private housing enforcement policy.
Verify current fees and the licensing position via Hull City Council's private landlords and HMO pages. Illustrative guide - fees and schemes 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): No published scheme. 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.