London Borough of Enfield

If you need help understanding the property licensing rules in Enfield you have come to the right place! We are experts in housing regulation and have produced this free guide to help you understand the council’s property licensing schemes.

If you find that you need a licence for your rented property our support doesn’t end there. Our Landlord Suppliers Directory (view here) lists companies that offer a licence application handling service. You can also find companies offering a wide range of other goods and services to help you manage your property portfolio and achieve compliance.

Licensing Requirements

Do I need a licence to rent out my property?

There are currently three licensing schemes operating in Enfield. We will help you choose the right licence for your property:

1. Mandatory HMO licence

You will need a mandatory HMO licence if your property meets the standard test, self-contained flat test or converted building test HMO definition in section 254 of the Housing Act 2004 and is occupied by five or more people.

But what are these tests and what does this mean in practice? It means you need a licence for any house or flat that is occupied by five or more people who are not all related and live in the property as their main home. For example, it includes:

Shared houses and flats occupied by students and young professionals;
Properties converted into bedsits with some shared facilities; and
Properties converted into a mixture of self-contained and non self-contained accommodation.

Prior to 1 October 2018, the mandatory HMO licensing scheme only applied to properties that were three or more storeys in height, but that restriction has now been lifted.

The government have decided to exclude purpose built self-contained flats within a block comprising three or more self-contained flats from the mandatory HMO licensing scheme. While this will be good news for some landlords, it does make the licensing scheme far more complicated.

To find out more, you can read our free guide to mandatory HMO licensing (here).

2. Additional licence

The additional licensing scheme came into force on 1 September 2020 and will continue for five years until 31 August 2025, unless the council decide to revoke the scheme or implement a replacement scheme.

It applies to most HMOs in the London Borough of Enfield, including all properties shared by three or more people who are not all related and share facilities.

The council have excluded ‘section 257 HMOs: certain converted blocks of flats’ from the scheme. These are properties that:

have been converted into self-contained flats; and
less than two thirds of the flats are owner occupied; and
the conversion did not comply with the relevant Building Regulations in force at that time and still does not comply.

To find out more, you can read our free guide to additional licensing (here).

3. Selective licence

You will need a selective licence if your property (house or flat) is let out to a single household or two individual sharers and is in the council wards of Bowes, Chase, Edmonton Green, Enfield Highway, Enfield Lock, Haselbury, Jubilee, Lower Edmonton, Palmers Green, Ponders End, Southbury, Southgate Green, Turkey Street and Upper Edmonton.

This adds another layer of complexity as most landlords won’t be familiar with the ward boundaries and neither will tenants or agents. To find out if your property is within the selective licensing area, there is a postcode search facility on the council’s website.

To find out more, you can read our free guide to selective licensing (here).

How much does a licence cost?

It depends on the type of licence you are applying for.

Mandatory HMO licence

There is a fixed fee of £1,347.80 (was £1,200.10 in 2022/23, £1,155 in 2021/22, £1,100 in 2020/21, £697 in 2019/2020) for an HMO with up to five lettable rooms. For larger HMOs, the cost increases according to the number of lettings.

Additional licence

There is a fixed fee of £1,170 (was £900 in 2022/23) per property.

Selective licence

There is a fixed fee of £673.80 (was £600 in 2022/23) per property.

The licence application fees are payable in two instalments.

The council do not advertise any discounts for accredited landlords, which we think is a shame.

The fees we have listed were correct as of September 2023 but could be subject to change in the future. You can view the fees in full on the council’s website. The mandatory HMO and additional licensing fees are here and the selective licensing fees are here.

How do I apply for a licence?

There is an online application and payment system and you can find more information on the council’s website. Selective licensing information is here and HMO licensing information is here.

If you need assistance with your licence application, you can find companies offering a licence application handling service in our Landlord Suppliers Directory (here). Whilst we do handle some applications, we have limited capacity and specialise in more complex cases where we provide our clients with expert advice and assistance.

It is important to remember that submitting a licence application is only the start of the licence approval process. To help landlords understand what happens next, we have published a free guide here.

Are there any standards I need to comply with?

Enfield Council updated their HMO standards in March 2021 and you can view a copy on the council’s website.

The standards cover a range of issues such as kitchen, bathroom and toilet facilities, fire precautions, heating, lighting, ventilation and room sizes.

It is important to note that new absolute minimum bedroom sizes for licensed HMOs have been introduced for HMO licence applications approved on or after 1 October 2018:

4.64m2 for a child under 10 years old
6.51m2 for one person over 10 years old
10.22m2 for two people over 10 years old

The council can still ask for larger minimum sizes. These new minimum sizes apply throughout England to HMOs licensed under a mandatory HMO or additional licensing scheme.

How many properties has the Council licensed?

In August 2021, Enfield Council had licensed 312 HMOs. We don’t know how many properties have been licensed under their selective licensing scheme.

The Council keeps a public register of licensed HMOs that is regularly updated and can be searched online.

Are there lots of unlicensed properties still out there?

In September 2020, Enfield Council said they think about 8,000 properties need licensing under their mandatory HMO and additional licensing schemes. It is believed the selective licensing scheme will cover another 23,000 properties.

This indicates there could be many landlords who need to get applications submitted.

What happens if I don’t get a licence?

Ignore the law and you could pay a heavy price. You risk being prosecuted by the Council and if found guilty you could get a criminal record, be fined an unlimited amount and ordered to pay court costs and a victim surcharge.

Alternatively, the council can issue you with a civil penalty notice of up to £30,000 for not having the correct licence without any warning being given, so this is really serious stuff.

You could also be subject to a Rent Repayment Order and may have to repay up to 12 months rental income.

Whilst the property is unlicensed, you can’t use a Notice of Seeking Possession under Section 21 Housing Act 1988 to evict your tenants.

And following a successful prosecution, you would probably fail a fit and proper person assessment, making it very difficult for you to obtain a property licence in the future.

Don’t put your livelihood and reputation at risk. Make sure you comply with the law.

Does the Council take much housing enforcement action?

In London, most boroughs publish information about housing prosecutions and civil financial penalties on the Mayor of London’s ‘Rogue landlord and agent checker’. You can search the database by entering a property address, landlord / agent name or by selecting the relevant borough, available here.

How many accredited landlords are there?

There are landlord accreditation schemes operated by the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme, the National Landlords Association (NLA) and the Residential Landlords Association (RLA).

Whilst we don’t have any figures for the NLA or RLA schemes, we have got information about the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme that is supported by all the London Boroughs. In January 2016, they told us there were 543 accredited landlords in Enfield, which was slightly above average when compared to all London boroughs.

January 2018: 595 accredited landlords
January 2019: 725 accredited landlords
January 2020: 781 accredited landlords
January 2021: 840 accredited landlords

January 2022: 1.145 accredited landlords

By January 2023 there were 1,238 accredited landlords, which is slightly below average when compared to all the London boroughs. To find out more about becoming accredited, you can visit the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme website here.

In addition to training and development, accredited landlords are entitled to various benefits, including discounted licensing fees in some boroughs. If you are not already a member, we would encourage you to think about joining!

Is the Council planning to introduce any new licensing schemes?

On 22 January 2020, the council’s Cabinet meeting approved proposals for a borough wide additional licensing scheme which came into force on 1 September 2020. They also decided to approach the Secretary of State for permission to implement selective licensing across 14 wards (read here – see agenda item 5).

On 18 May 2021, the Secretary of State approved Enfield’s selective licensing scheme and it came into force on 1 September 2021.

We will continue to monitor the situation and you can sign up to our free newsletter for all the latest news.

Do I need planning permission for my HMO?

You will need planning permission if you are changing your property from a single-family property to a house in multiple occupation (HMO) occupied by more than six people. HMOs occupied by more than six people fall within ‘sui-generis’ use for which planning permission is required. You also need planning permission if you a splitting up a property into smaller self-contained units of accommodation.

For smaller HMOs, the rules are more complicated. HMOs occupied by up to six people fall into planning use class C4 whereas single-family properties fall into planning use class C3.

On 22 October 2012, Enfield Council made a borough-wide Article 4 Direction that removes the permitted development rights to change a property from use class C3 to use class C4 without planning permission. The HMO Article 4 Direction came into force on 22 October 2013 and you can download a copy from the ‘More Information’ box on the right of this page.

The effect of the Article 4 Direction is to require planning permission to change the use from a single-family property (C3) to an HMO with up to six occupants (class C4). So even letting your property to three people who are not all related could require planning permission.

We have prepared some general advice on HMO Article 4 Directions that you may find useful, available here.

Remember that this is only intended as general advice and no liability can be accepted for any reliance upon information provided. We would strongly encourage you to contact the Council’s Planning Department or seek independent legal advice. You can find out more information on the council’s website.

Can you help me find the goods and services I need?

We certainly can. We understand the challenges of being a private landlord and so we have developed a Landlord Suppliers Directory to provide you with access to the goods and services you need. The Directory concentrates on businesses that operate in the London area.

Whether you a looking for a letting agent, want a property inventory for a new tenancy or fire risk assessment, we have got it covered – and far more besides!

As the leading experts in property licensing, we also offer a range of services ourselves. From handling the licence application process to advice on new HMO developments, we can help to ensure your property business remains compliant. If you need assistance, please drop us a line and see if we can help!

New suppliers are regularly being added and we would encourage you to take a look. Some of our featured listings also contain YouTube videos, helping you to find out more about the business.