Middlesbrough: Newport selective licensing, with a city-wide HMO planning direction

Check the Newport phase as well as the postcode

Selective licensing applies to part of Newport ward through Newport 1 phase 2 and Newport 2. The council publishes a separate map and application route for each phase. Newport 1 ended on 12 June 2024 and restarted on 5 August 2024; Newport 2 has its own designation and expires on 2 July 2028, while Newport 1 licences expire on 22 July 2029. Licences are non-transferable and fees are non-refundable.

Small HMOs can be selective here

A three- or four-person HMO in a designated Newport area needs the relevant Selective Landlord Licence under the council's current scheme. Five or more people from two or more households sharing facilities takes the property into mandatory HMO licensing instead. Outside the selective areas, an ordinary single-household let does not fall under these Newport designations, but the national landlord duties still apply.

Mandatory HMO fees are split into two parts

Middlesbrough's current mandatory HMO fee table is banded by occupancy and paid in two instalments. The published totals are £1,168.88 for up to ten occupants, £1,476.39 for eleven to twenty, £1,783.87 for twenty-one to thirty, and £2,091.37 for thirty-one or more. A separate licence is required for each property, and licences normally last five years.

Planning permission is a separate hurdle

The HMO Article 4 Direction took effect on 8 February 2025 and removes permitted-development rights for changes from dwellinghouses to small HMOs of three to six people across the town except the Middlesbrough Development Corporation mayoral development area. HMOs for seven or more people already need planning permission. A licence does not replace planning consent.

Keep the public register evidence

Middlesbrough publishes monthly registers for licensed properties, temporary exemption notices and management orders, with the latest registers updated on 24 August 2026. Its enforcement page states that civil penalties can reach £40,000, and its rent-repayment guidance refers to claims of up to two years' rent for listed offences.

Verify your boundary on Middlesbrough Council's Newport 1 and Newport 2 maps, then check the current HMO fees and public registers. Illustrative guide - boundaries, dates and fees change; general information, not legal advice.