Oxford: every private rented property in the city needs a licence
Oxford is about as simple as licensing gets, and about as demanding. Selective licensing has applied citywide since 1 September 2022, and additional HMO licensing operates across the whole council area. Between the two - plus national mandatory HMO licensing - effectively every privately rented property in Oxford needs a licence unless it falls under a specific exemption.
Which licence you need
If the property is not an HMO - a house or flat let to a family, a couple, one individual or two individuals - it needs a selective licence. Three or four tenants, or a section 257 building, means an additional HMO licence. Five or more tenants means the national mandatory HMO licence. There is no postcode to check in Oxford: the question is only which of the three applies.
The 2026 additional licensing changeover
Oxford's 2021 additional HMO designation ran until 9 June 2026, and a new five-year designation came into force on 25 June 2026 - leaving a short gap between the two. Existing licences continued in force through it, but licences expiring in that window needed handling separately. The council's position is blunt and worth repeating: it is your responsibility to apply. Forget, and you pay the new-application fee rather than the renewal fee, and the council may investigate you for operating an unlicensed HMO.
Licence length rewards good records
Oxford issues HMO licences for one, two or five years, with one year as the default - you have to qualify for longer. Discounted selective licence fees likewise depend on submitting valid, current, correct certificates with the application; the council states it will not chase missing or out-of-date documents and will simply charge the full fee. An EICR without the follow-up Electrical Installation Certificate for remedial works, or an expired EPC without the supporting tenancy agreement, is enough to lose the discount.
Verify current designations and fees via Oxford City Council's selective licensing and additional HMO licensing pages. Illustrative guide - schemes, fees and designations 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): YES - citywide since 1 Sep 2022. 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.