Portsmouth: three HMO licence types and a city-wide Article 4
Portsmouth licences HMOs three ways - mandatory, additional and a separate section 257 licence for converted-flat buildings. Its additional scheme reaches further than most, catching HMOs of three or more people inside purpose-built self-contained flats. And a city-wide Article 4 direction means planning permission is required for all new HMOs in the city.
The five-year licence has to be earned
Portsmouth issues licences for one, two and a half, or five years, and the criteria are published. A five-year term requires no justified complaints in the previous twelve months, accreditation with a council-approved body, a valid EPC of band E or higher within the last ten years, and - for renewals - submission at least fourteen days before expiry. Planning permission or a certificate of lawful use for C4 or sui generis use also forms part of the assessment.
No fire risk assessment means an automatic one-year licence
This is the single most expensive detail in Portsmouth's regime. Submit an application without a fire risk assessment and you get a one-year licence automatically, regardless of how good the rest of the application is. A new one-year additional licence costs £222 plus £1,007, totalling £1,229, against £886 for a five-year one - so you pay more, more often, for missing one document.
Fees, and what you don't get back
Additional licence fees are two-part: a new five-year licence is £222 plus £664; two and a half years is £222 plus £695; renewals run from £709 to £845 depending on term. Mandatory HMO fees are banded by bedroom count on top of a £314 part-one fee for new applications. There are no refunds on withdrawal, refusal, revocation, subsequent planning refusal, or if the property stops being an HMO or is sold during the term.
Article 4 covers the whole city
Portsmouth's Article 4 direction means planning permission is required for all new HMOs. This is a densely converted city where a great many properties are already shared, so concentration policies bite. Check the planning position before you buy or convert, not after your licence application prompts the question.
The application system moved in June 2026
Portsmouth moved HMO licence applications to a new platform on 22 June 2026 and closed the old system at the same time. If you last applied before that date, your saved details and bookmarks won't carry over.
Verify current fees, licence criteria and the Article 4 direction via Portsmouth City Council's HMO licensing and planning policy 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.
Additional HMO licensing (3-4 occupants): YES. 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.