Property licensing

People in Brent have a right to expect well-managed, decent and safe private rented accommodation. If you own or manage a property rented to a single person or family, or to two or more unrelated people, you may need a licence under Brent Council’s licensing scheme, regardless of the number of storeys.

Types of property licences

There are three different types of licences for privately rented accommodation in Brent:

Use our handy tool to find out if you need a licence and which one:

You need an account on the licensing portal before you can apply.

Already have an account, sign in.

About the application

The application form covers Selective, Additional and Mandatory licences.

A Selective Licence application takes approximately 15 minutes and a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) application takes around 30 minutes to complete.

We recommend saving your application regularly so you do not lose your progress and can continue it later.

Before you apply

The person applying must be the landlord or the agent who is responsible for managing the property - this should also be the person who is able to authorise, organise and pay for essential repairs to the property. A licence is for the property and not for you as an individual. If you have properties outside of the borough you will need to apply for a licence with the relevant local authority.

Property licence fee payments

Licence fees are taken in two parts:

• Part A will be taken upon application and will cover the cost of processing and administering the application. This part must be paid with your application, otherwise it will be rejected and a new application will have to be submitted. The application fee is non-refundable, regardless of whether the application is successful.
• Part B will be taken once the council has determined to grant a licence and will cover the administration, management, and enforcement of the licensing functions for the scheme.

You are not obligated to make the second part payment in advance. However, you may choose to pay the full licence fee upfront. If you choose this option and your licence is subsequently refused, you will be entitled to a refund of the Part B payment. Select Option 1 – I wish to make a single payment for the full licence fee (both parts upfront as a single payment).

If you choose to make only the Part A payment with your application (known as a split payment), the Council will request the remaining “fee on grant of licence”, also known as the Part B payment, before the actual Licence is issued. The actual Licence will only be issued once the final payment has been received in full.

Once a Licence has been granted, refunds will only be made in exceptional circumstances, and the Council will recover all costs incurred (refer to section “Property Licensing Fees”).

If the final payment is not made within 28 days of the Council’s request, your application will be deemed incomplete and cancelled without a refund, and the Licence will NOT be granted. The property will remain unlicensed, and you may face enforcement action, including a Civil Penalty fine or Prosecution. If you later still wish to obtain a licence, you will need to submit a new application and pay the appropriate fee.

If have any queries on this matter, please email us on prslicensing@brent.gov.uk or call 020 8937 2384/5.

A licence may be issued for either one (1) year or five (5) years. The Council seeks to give full 5-year licences wherever possible. View examples of when a 1-year licence is granted.

What you'll need for your application

1. Full details of the licence holder (if the applicant is not the proposed licence holder). The licence holder must be the landlord or the person responsible for managing the property, that is, the person or organisation to whom the tenants pay their rent.
2. Details of the freeholder(s) and/or leaseholder(s).
3. If the proposed licence holder is a company, provide the Company’s and Director’s details as part of the application.
4. Details of the mortgage company and any person or organisation with a legal interest in the property.
5. A scanned or downloaded copy of the current Gas Safe Certificate (GSC). This will need to be uploaded as part of the application.
6. A scanned or downloaded copy of the current Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) with a rating between A to E unless a valid exemption is in place. This will need to be uploaded as part of the application.
7. If you are applying for a mandatory or additional licence, you will need to categorise the rooms as follows:

• Bedroom
• Bedroom with WC
• Bedroom with shower or bath
• Bedsit (bedroom with cooking facilities)
• Bedsit with WC (bedroom with cooking facilities, a WC and wash hand basin)
• Self-contained flat

You will also need to provide the following information:

• The number of bedrooms, living rooms (communal rooms), communal kitchens, bathrooms, shower rooms and WCs (water closets with wash hand basins)
• The size of each room in square metres, including all bedrooms, bedsits, communal kitchens and communal rooms (e.g. living rooms)
• The number of cooking facilities within each communal kitchen
• The location and description of all rooms within the property.

8. Details of any unspent convictions of the proposed licence holder, manager, or any other person associated with the proposed licence holder and manager. This will need to be provided as part of the application.
9. A UK registered bankcard to pay the licence fee.

Our privacy notice explains what information we collect and how we use your information.

What happens after you apply

Once you have submitted your application and paid the correct fee in full, your application will be validated and processed. You will then be sent a draft licence together with the licence conditions that must be met.

At this stage, the licence holder or a relevant person can make a written representation about the draft licence and its conditions, within 21 days of the date of the letter. Where representations are agreed, they will be incorporated into the final licence conditions. If no agreement can be reached, the licence holder or the relevant person has the right to appeal to the Residential Property Tribunal (RPT).

If there are no unresolved issues and the full fee (both part A & B) has been paid, the licence will be granted and the actual property Licence will then be issued.
However, if only part A fee was paid, a request for part B will be sent, and only when this payment has been received will the actual Licence be issued.

During the validation process, we will verify the relationship between the owner (FH/LH) and proposed licence holder.
If the proposed licence holder is a company, the verification of the company's director(s) will be done through Companies House. The company and its relevant officers/directors would normally need to satisfy the “fit and proper person” considerations applicable to licensing.

Inspections

Following the issue of the Licence, we aim to inspect the property within the licence period. This is to ensure that the conditions are being met and that there are no serious hazards within the property.

Our fees and charges are being kept as low as possible. We do not make a profit from the scheme. Income from the licence fee goes towards the setup, running and enforcement of the scheme.

Selective licensing applies to all privately rented residential properties occupied by no more than 2 unrelated people, or no more than 1 family households.

The council undertook a public consultation on the proposed schemes between 31 October 2022 and 23 January 2023. Two new schemes were approved by Brent Cabinet in 2023.

The licencing schemes are being introduced as designations.

Designation 1

Designation 1 came into force on 1 August 2023 and covers the three wards of Harlesden & Kensal Green, Dollis Hill and Willesden Green.

Designation 2

Designation 2 was approved on 17 July 2023 and was confirmed by the Secretary of State, Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, on 30 November 2023. This scheme covers all other 18 wards in Brent, except for the Wembley Park ward.

For both designations, if you want to rent out a property to a single person, two unrelated people or a single household (not a HMO), you will need a licence.

About the scheme

The number of properties in Brent that are rented out by private landlords has increased over the last 20 years. It is important that these properties are well-managed and provide tenants with a decent and safe standard of accommodation.

To help achieve this, in 2015 and 2018, we introduced a selective licensing scheme for privately rented properties in the wards of: Harlesden, Wembley Central, Willesden Green, Dudden Hill, Kilburn, Queens Park, Kensal Green and Mapesbury. These schemes lasted for five years and ended 31 December 2019 and 30 April 2023, respectively. They were replaced by the Designation 1 and 2 described above.

Read the conditions for the Selective licence

Failure to get a licence 

Failure to obtain a licence is a criminal offence and may result in a fine of up to £40,000. In some cases, tenants or the council may be able to recover rent, housing benefit or other housing-related payments received during the period a licensable property operated without a licence.

The council may apply for a Rent Repayment Order where there is sufficient evidence that an offence has been committed. Current and former tenants may also apply for a Rent Repayment Order, even if the landlord has not been prosecuted.

The Brent Additional Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing scheme came into force on 2 February 2026.

The Additional HMO Licence applies to privately rented properties occupied by three or four people from two or more households. It also includes HMOs not covered by mandatory licensing, such as section 257 HMOs (unless exempt) and HMOs in purpose-built flats (blocks with three or more self-contained flats). Properties with more than four people from two or more households will continue to fall under the Mandatory HMO licensing scheme, which remains unchanged.

What does this mean for you?

You will need to apply for a new or renewal Additional HMO Licence after 2 February 2026 at the new fees. We will continue to complete compliance inspections to ensure safety.

If your HMO is not licensed

• If you don't get a licence, you could get an unlimited fine upon prosecution and a criminal record or receive a civil penalty of up to £40,000 per offence and may be banned from running a rental property.
• As a tenant, you may be able to apply for a rent repayment order to reclaim up to 12 months' rent, or up to 24 month’s rent if the offence happened on or after 1 May 2026.

View the Public Notice of Designation.

Read the conditions for the Additional Licence

A property is a house in multiple occupation (HMO) if it is:

• a shared house that is occupied by more than one household with 3 or more people who share one or more amenities (i.e. toilet, wash hand basin, shower, bath, cooking facilities)
• a house divided into bedsits, occupied by people who do not form one household and who share one or more amenities
• an individual flat occupied by more than one household and who share one or more amenities
• a building of self-contained flats that do not meet, as a minimum standard, the requirements of the 1991 Building Regulations, and where at least one third of the flats are privately rented.

In order to be an HMO the property must be used as the tenants' only or main residence and it should be used solely or mainly to house tenants.

Properties let to students and migrant workers will be treated as their only or main residence and the same will apply to properties which are used as domestic refuges.

By law, we are required  to maintain a register of:

• all licensed properties
• details of the licence holder
• temporary exemption notices issued in relation to property licensing
• management orders.

The register is updated as licences are issued. As a result, applications that are currently being processed will not appear on the register.

Search the Property Licensing Register

You can view the full Property Licensing Register  or check if a property is licensed.

If you do not licence your property

It is an offence to let a property in Brent without the required licence. We work with the Metropolitan Police and other partner agencies to identify unlicensed properties and take appropriate enforcement action.

Landlords and managing agents of unlicensed rented properties may face a financial penalty of up to £40,000 or an unlimited fine upon conviction by the court. You may also be subject to other enforcement action, including the making of a management order, and may be required to repay up to 24 months' rent to your tenants, or housing-related payments to us, through a Rent Repayment Order.

Report an unlicensed property

If you suspect a privately rented property in Brent is unlicensed, register for an account on the portal or sign in to complete the online reporting form.

We recommend that you submit your renewal application at least 60 days before your current licence expires.

You will need to provide the required supporting documents and pay the renewal fee.

If your renewal application is submitted after your current licence has expired, it will be rejected. You will then need to submit a new licence application and pay the applicable new application fee. You may also be subject to enforcement action for operating a licensable property without a valid licence. In certain circumstances, a Rent Repayment Order may be made requiring you to repay up to 24 months' rent to your tenants or housing-related payments to the Council.

To renew your licence, register for an account on the portal or sign in if you already have one. Renewing an existing licence is cheaper than submitting a new application. No other discounts are available.

As a landlord, if you have:

• failed to get a valid property licence
• illegally evicted or harassed you
• used or threatened violence to enter your home
• failed to comply with an Improvement Notice served by the council
• failed to comply with a Prohibition Order served by the council or
• breached a Banning Order

your tenant has the right, under the Housing & Planning Act 2016 to apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) for a Rent Repayment Order which will require you to repay your tenant up to 12 months’ rent.