HMOs and Selective Licensing

Any rented house in Marcia Road currently (2026) needs either an HMO licence or a Selective Licence from the council. Which category it falls into is a complex matter and there are a few exceptions. The best place to start checking it out is Southwark Council’s Property Licensing web page: https://www.southwark.gov.uk/housing/private-tenants-and-landlords/private-rented-property-licensing/property-licensing

Licensing gotchas

There are some important things that government or council sites don’t tell you…

Needing a licence may affect one’s landlords’ insurance, so you need to check and amend that if necessary.

Furthermore, as part of the licensing process, the council is required to inform other stakeholders in the property about the application. That includes not only joint owners but your mortgage company too.

This has caused problems for some landlords because many buy-to-let mortgages exclude HMOs. So the notification from the council has the potential to trigger a withdraw of the mortgage for a breach of the conditions, especially if you are on a cheap mortgage that the lender would like to change for a more expensive one. It is worth checking your mortgage conditions and, if it looks like there may be a problem, talk to your lender before the council’s notification reaches them.