Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Licence definition

What does Licence mean? A licence is permission, granted by contract or law, to do something that would otherwise be unlawful, without creating a proprietary interest. In practice, lawyers most often see: licences over land (a personal, usually non‑assignable permission—often a contractual licence—to occupy or use property, distinguished in case law from a lease and generally revocable subject to contract and proprietary estoppel); intellectual property licences (permission to use copyright, trade marks or patents on agreed terms); and regulatory licences. Regulatory use varies across the UK and Ireland. In England and Wales, the Legal Services Act 2007 requires an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) to hold...

HMO licensing: applicants, fit-and-proper assessment, notification, application and determination, revocation/variation, duration, renewal and fees (England and Wales)

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Practice notes

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Houses in multiple occupation (HMO) licensing

Responsibility for licensing HMOs rests with the local housing authority (LHA) for the area where the HMO is situated. This Practice Note sets out who must apply for a Licence, identifies the relevant persons for service of notice, explains who counts as a fit and proper person, and outlines the procedure on Application, grant, refusal or renewal. It also details the conditions to be met by the proposed licence holder, the licence fee, and how long the licence will last.

Licensing by the LHA is mandatory under Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004 (HA 2004) for HMOs that fall within the prescribed description. Discretionary schemes are available through additional licensing of HMOs under Part 2, and selective licensing of other privately rented housing under Part 3, in areas designated by the LHA.

In England, new additional and selective licensing designations made on or after 23 December 2024 are governed by the Secretary of State’s General Approval 2024, or else require specific confirmation. See Practice Notes: Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)—licensing regime...

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Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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