Free for your website

Put the licensing checker on your website

Landlords visiting your site can check a postcode against HouseFile’s council licensing records. Copy the code below into your website. It’s free, and there’s nothing to sign up for.

Your website's address

It goes into the code so visits from your site can be counted.

Button colour

Your brand colour as a hex code. The button text turns dark or white to stay readable.

How it looks

The code

<!-- Landlord licensing check by HouseFile. Get the code for your own site at https://www.housefile.app/tools/licensing-checker/embed -->
<form action="https://www.housefile.app/tools/licensing-checker" method="get" target="_blank" style="box-sizing:border-box;max-width:440px;margin:0;padding:20px;border:1px solid #d1d5db;border-radius:12px;background:#ffffff;color:#111827;font-family:inherit;font-size:16px;line-height:1.4;text-align:left">
<label for="housefile-postcode" style="display:block;margin:0 0 4px;font-size:17px;font-weight:600">Landlord licensing check</label>
<p style="margin:0 0 12px;font-size:14px;color:#4b5563">Enter the postcode of a property you let to see which council licensing schemes HouseFile&#39;s records hold for it.</p>
<div style="display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px">
<input id="housefile-postcode" name="postcode" type="text" required maxlength="10" autocomplete="postal-code" placeholder="e.g. E8 3RL" style="box-sizing:border-box;flex:1 1 160px;min-width:0;margin:0;padding:10px 12px;border:1px solid #9ca3af;border-radius:8px;background:#ffffff;color:#111827;font:inherit">
<button type="submit" style="box-sizing:border-box;flex:0 0 auto;margin:0;padding:10px 20px;border:0;border-radius:8px;background:#1e3a5f;color:#ffffff;font:inherit;font-weight:600;cursor:pointer">Check</button>
</div>
<input type="hidden" name="utm_source" value="widget">
<input type="hidden" name="utm_medium" value="website">
<input type="hidden" name="utm_campaign" value="licensing_widget">
<p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:12px;color:#6b7280">Licensing check by <a href="https://www.housefile.app/tools/licensing-checker?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=licensing_widget" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:underline">HouseFile</a>. The result opens in a new tab.</p>
</form>

Adding it to your site

Paste the code into the block your website builder has for your own HTML, such as a Custom HTML block in WordPress or a Code block in Squarespace. Then preview the page and try a postcode. If someone else looks after your website, send them the code.

It's a plain HTML form. It loads nothing from HouseFile until someone presses Check, and it sets no cookies. You can change the words, sizes and colours to suit your site. Please keep the line that names HouseFile.

What your visitors see

Pressing Check opens the licensing checker in a new tab, with each selective and HMO licensing scheme our records hold for that postcode: its dates, fee and who it covers, the council's own page, and the date we last checked it. Near a scheme's boundary it says a postcode can't settle which side an address is on, and points to the council's map.

HouseFile’s records cover 31 councils in England so far, listed on the landlord licensing page. For a postcode anywhere else, the checker says we hold no records for that council and points to the council's own website. It never takes a missing record to mean there's no scheme. So the code is most useful if you let homes in one of those areas.

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.