Landlord licensing in Manchester: selective yes, additional HMO no
Manchester runs selective licensing in specific designated areas of the city - not citywide - so whether your ordinary let needs a council licence comes down to which streets it sits on. What Manchester does not currently operate is an additional HMO licensing scheme, so smaller shared houses (three or four occupants) are outside the licensing net here even though they'd be caught a few miles away in Bolton or Salford.
Check the current designation, not the last one
Manchester's selective licensing has run in phases, and the council publishes a searchable list of the areas where a licence is required. Boundaries have changed between phases, so a property that fell outside the previous designation may sit inside the current one - and vice versa. Check your address against the council's current "areas where a selective licence is required" listing rather than relying on what a neighbour or a previous agent told you.
Smaller HMOs: no licence, same duties
The council states plainly that it does not currently operate an additional licensing scheme, so a three- or four-person share needs no HMO licence in Manchester. That is a licensing exemption, not a compliance one: the national framework applies in full, and the council retains the power to extend licensing to smaller HMOs where it finds management or condition problems. Landlords who treat "no licence needed" as "nothing to do" are exactly the ones caught out when a scheme arrives.
The national layer applies either way
Licensed or not, every Manchester tenancy needs 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 duties including the Information Sheet. A property with five or more occupants in two or more households needs a mandatory HMO licence wherever in the city it sits - that one is national law, not a Manchester decision.
Verify current designations and the additional licensing position via Manchester City Council's selective licensing and HMO pages. Illustrative guide - schemes and boundaries 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): Designated areas only. 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.