Additional HMO licensing · Peterborough City Council
Peterborough City Council Designation of an Area for Additional Licensing 2025 (council page name: Additional HMO licensing)
- Status
- In force
- Runs
- 26 January 2026 to 25 January 2031
- Designated
- 15 October 2025
- Fee
- £1,100 per licence: £588 when you apply and £512 before the licence is issued. Every licence ends on 25 January 2031, so one granted later is shorter but costs the same. Apply through Home Safe, the council's partner.
- Applies to
- HMOs anywhere in Peterborough that don't need a mandatory licence: usually homes let to three or four people who aren't all related and share a toilet, bathroom or kitchen. HMO flats are covered too, except flats in purpose-built blocks of three or more flats. Converted blocks of flats that don't meet the building regulations that applied to the conversion (section 257 HMOs) need a licence held by the freeholder; the council's page says this applies where more than a third of the flats are let on shorthold tenancies. The page also says a building of fewer than three storeys converted into two flats, or one where the building and its flats have different owners, is exempt, but the designation itself doesn't say so, so ask the council if that's your building. Exempt: HMOs under a management order or with a temporary exemption, and buildings the law says aren't HMOs, such as homes let by the council or a housing association, student halls run by a college or university, and an owner's home with up to two lodgers. Selective licences already held for shared houses of three or four people have been moved across to this scheme.
Our records last verified 18 October 2026 · council designation page · licence conditions
Area covered
The scheme covers the whole of Peterborough City Council. Every privately rented property in the borough that meets the scheme’s criteria needs a licence, wherever it is.
Peterborough City Council also runs its own address-level lookup: check whether a specific address falls inside the scheme.
What this means for landlords
Additional HMO licensing extends licensing to shared homes below the national 5-person mandatory threshold. If your property in this area houses unrelated sharers, check the scheme’s occupancy criteria. Running a licensable HMO without a licence carries the same penalties as any licensing offence: a civil penalty of up to £40,000 and a rent repayment order of up to 24 months’ rent.
Is your property inside the scheme area?
This checker reflects HouseFile’s records of council licensing designations, not the councils’ live registers. Our records indicate the position at the verification date shown on each result. Schemes are designated, renewed and revoked throughout the year, and postcode-level lookups are approximate near scheme boundaries. Always confirm with the council before letting or buying a property, using the source link on each card. This is general information, not legal advice.
If you hold a licence here, HouseFile can track its renewal date
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