Additional HMO licensing · Reading Borough Council
Reading Borough Council Additional Licensing for Housing in Multiple Occupation Designation 2025
- Status
- Active
- Runs
- 1 March 2026 — 28 February 2031
- Designated
- 17 November 2025
- Fee
- £1,500 per property, split into two parts: Part A (application processing) £750 submitted with the application, Part B (maintenance of the scheme) £750 once the draft licence is issued. Home Safe, the council's delivery partner, additionally publishes a £250 late application fee added to the Part A fee (bringing Part A to £1,000) where the property has been occupied as an HMO for 12 weeks or more before the application is submitted.
- Applies to
- All HMOs in the whole of the Borough of Reading that are not already licensable under mandatory (national) HMO licensing - in practice properties, including flats, occupied by 3 or more persons comprising 2 or more households, irrespective of the number of storeys, meeting the s.254(2) standard test, s.254(3) self-contained flat test, s.254(4) converted building test, or subject to an s.255 HMO declaration. Excluded: Schedule 14 buildings that are not HMOs for the purposes of the Act, properties licensable under s.55(2)(a) (mandatory), properties with a temporary exemption notice under s.62, properties under an interim or final management order, and s.257 converted blocks of flats (though individual flats within them are caught where they meet the paragraph 5 criteria).
Our records last verified 28 August 2026 · council designation page
Area covered
The scheme covers the whole of Reading Borough Council — every privately rented property in the borough that meets the scheme’s criteria needs a licence, wherever it is.
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 — operating an unlicensed licensable HMO carries the same penalties as any licensing offence: fines up to £30,000, rent repayment orders, and blocked possession notices.
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.
Hold a licence here? HouseFile tracks its expiry next to every other compliance date.
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