London Landlord Licensing by Borough: The Electrical Rules

Most London landlords now need a council licence as well as an EICR, and every council we checked expects to see an up-to-date electrical report, either with the application or within days of asking for it. The ask is close to identical everywhere: an EICR less than five years old, marked satisfactory, with any C1 or C2 faults already put right. What changes from borough to borough is which homes need a licence in the first place.

That part moves fast. Croydon's new scheme started on 25 September 2026, Islington's second scheme starts on 23 November, and Greenwich is consulting on a much bigger one. So we've gone through what each council says on its own website, borough by borough, and linked to it.

Checked against council websites on 7 October 2026.

The three types of property licence

Before you look up your borough, it helps to know which licence you might be dealing with. There are three, and a property only needs one of them.

• Mandatory HMO licence: for shared homes with five or more tenants forming more than one household. This applies everywhere in England, and gov.uk sets out the rule in a couple of lines.
• Additional HMO licence: for smaller shared homes, usually three or four people from two or more households. Councils choose whether to run one, and most of the boroughs below do, across the whole borough.
• Selective licence: for ordinary lets to one household, or to one or two people, in the wards a council has designated. This is the one that catches people out. A landlord with a single family flat often assumes licensing is only for HMOs, right up until the council writes.

What councils want to see on the electrics

Licensing sits on top of the national rule. It doesn't replace it. Under the government's electrical safety standards guidance, landlords must have the installation inspected and tested at least every five years, give existing tenants a copy of the report within 28 days, and give new tenants a copy before they move in. Councils can fine up to £40,000 for breaches.

A licence application is where the council checks you've actually done it. In practice that comes down to four things:

• A full EICR, not a Minor Works certificate from a one-off job. A minor works certificate only covers the bit someone worked on. If you're not sure what you've got, our guide to which electrical certificate you need explains the difference.
• Less than five years old, and some councils expect it to stay valid for the whole life of the licence.
• Marked satisfactory. A report with open C1, C2 or FI items won't get you through. If the codes on yours don't make sense, here's what C1, C2, C3 and FI mean.
• Proof the remedial work was done, which usually means the electrician's certificate for the repairs.

Councils don't all call it the same thing. Harrow and Wandsworth ask for an "electrical safety certificate", Lewisham for an "electrical inspection certificate", and Hounslow and Brent for a "Domestic Electrical Installation Periodic Report", which is the older name. They're all after the same document.

West London

Ealing and Acton

Ealing runs additional HMO licensing across the whole borough until 31 March 2027. Selective licensing covers 15 wards, including Acton Central, South Acton, East Acton, Hanger Hill, Southall Broadway, Southall Green, Greenford Broadway, Perivale and both Northolt wards. The council lists them under the old, pre-2022 ward names, so check the map rather than going by the ward on your council tax bill.

On the electrics, Ealing's list of documents for a valid application says the certificate "must be dated within the last 5 years and it must state that the installation is 'Satisfactory'". There's more on the local housing stock on our Ealing and Acton pages.

Hammersmith and Fulham

Additional HMO licensing applies borough-wide, and selective licensing covers rented homes on 24 named streets, including King Street, Shepherd's Bush Road, Dalling Road and Goldhawk Road. Both schemes run until 4 June 2027.

The council's HMO licence conditions are some of the most specific in London. You need an EICR "at intervals not exceeding five years", it has to be in place within three months of the licence being granted, and you must send it to the council within 14 days of a written request. If you let in Hammersmith or Fulham, keep a PDF copy somewhere you can find it quickly.

Chiswick (Hounslow)

Hounslow's additional HMO scheme has applied across the borough since 11 December 2025, to any HMO with at least three occupants in two or more households. Its licence conditions require a valid periodic report, dated within the previous five years, "throughout the period of the licence", with C1 and C2 items fixed within 28 days of the report. For Chiswick landlords, that word "throughout" is the bit to plan around. More on that below.

Uxbridge (Hillingdon)

Hillingdon brought in borough-wide additional HMO licensing on 24 August 2026, for homes with three or more occupants forming two or more households, as set out in the council's Cabinet report. It's an HMO scheme, so a house let to one family doesn't need a licence under it. The five-yearly EICR still applies to that house either way. Our Uxbridge page has more on the area.

Harrow

Harrow now runs selective licensing in six wards, phased in through 2026: Edgware and Roxeth from 2 May, Greenhill and Marlborough from 6 July, and Wealdstone North and Wealdstone South from 1 September. Wards like Pinner and Stanmore aren't part of it.

Harrow's application checklist asks for an electrical safety certificate along with the gas certificate, EPC, floor plan and a £686 administration fee. See our Harrow page for local detail.

Wembley (Brent)

Brent has the widest selective scheme on this list. Every ward except Wembley Park needs a selective licence for single-household lets. Brent's new additional HMO scheme also started borough-wide on 2 February 2026, replacing one that had lapsed, so a shared house that didn't need a licence in 2025 may well need one now.

Brent's HMO licence conditions require a current periodic report, under five years old, to be sent to the council within 28 days of it being asked for, with C1 and C2 items fixed within 28 days of the report. Our Wembley page covers the local area.

North London

Camden

Camden renewed its additional HMO licensing scheme in December 2025, and it now runs borough-wide until December 2030. If you let a flat in Camden room by room to three or more sharers, assume it needs a licence and check.

Islington

Islington runs three licensing schemes. Additional licensing covers HMOs with three or four sharers across the borough, including flats in purpose-built blocks. Selective licensing currently covers Finsbury Park, Hillrise and Tollington wards, and a second scheme starts at midnight on 23 November 2026 for Barnsbury, Caledonian, Highbury, Junction, Laycock, Mildmay and Tufnell Park. Applications for that one opened on 7 September.

The council's application checklist asks for an electrical installation condition report "dated within the last 5 years and marked as satisfactory". If you let in one of those seven wards in Islington, there's still time to get an EICR done before the start date.

Hackney

Since 1 May 2026, Hackney has run selective licensing in 17 of its 21 wards, including Stoke Newington, Dalston, Hackney Central, Homerton and De Beauvoir, alongside borough-wide additional licensing for HMOs. That pulled a lot of ordinary family lets in Hackney into licensing for the first time this year. If you haven't had an EICR in the last five years, sort that before you apply. You need one by law regardless, and the council will want to know the electrics are safe.

Central London

Westminster

Westminster brought in selective licensing in 15 of its 18 wards on 24 November 2025, covering privately rented homes apart from HMOs already licensed under another scheme. Its renewed additional HMO scheme went live across the whole city on 31 August 2026 and runs until 30 August 2031.

One useful detail: the council says you can keep renting while your selective licence application is being processed, once it's been submitted. That's no reason to put off the EICR, though. Our Westminster page has more on the local housing stock.

Kensington and Chelsea

Kensington and Chelsea has licensed smaller HMOs borough-wide since 1 June 2023, for homes where three or more people forming two or more households share facilities. The council's application page asks for a current EICR along with gas safety, fire alarm and emergency lighting test certificates, and its licensing policy requires the EICR to have been carried out within the last five years. See our Kensington page for more.

South London

Brixton (Lambeth)

All four Brixton wards, Brixton Acre Lane, Brixton North, Brixton Rush Common and Brixton Windrush, have been inside Lambeth's selective licensing scheme since 1 September 2025. Lambeth is unusually clear about the electrics. You need the EICR, and if it listed any C1 or C2 deficiencies, you also need a certificate showing they've been remedied. A report with the faults written down and no proof of repair won't do.

Lambeth's separate additional HMO scheme is due to end on 8 December 2026, so if you let a shared house, keep an eye on what replaces it. Local detail is on our Brixton page.

Wandsworth

Wandsworth requires HMO licences across the whole borough. Selective licensing covers Furzedown, Tooting Bec, Tooting Broadway and South Balham wards, and since April 2026 East Putney, West Putney and Northcote as well. Every application needs an electrical safety certificate, and the council's document list also includes fire alarm and PAT certificates where they apply. Our Wandsworth page has more.

Croydon

Croydon's new selective licensing scheme came into force on 25 September 2026 in 14 wards, including Fairfield, South Croydon, Thornton Heath, Addiscombe East and Addiscombe West, and additional HMO licensing now covers the whole borough. The licence conditions are blunt: provide an EICR every five years. The scheme is already live, so if you let in Croydon and haven't applied, now's the time.

Lewisham

Lewisham's selective licensing has applied since 1 July 2024 to nearly every privately rented home in the borough, except in Telegraph Hill and parts of Blackheath. Additional HMO licensing runs borough-wide until 4 April 2027. For an HMO application the council asks for an "electrical inspection certificate", which in practice means your EICR. There's more on Lewisham on our local page.

Greenwich

Royal Greenwich runs borough-wide additional licensing for smaller HMOs. Selective licensing currently covers parts of Woolwich, Plumstead and Shooters Hill, but the council is consulting on a much bigger scheme covering 18 wards, and the consultation runs until 12 October 2026. If it goes ahead, a lot more single-household lets in Greenwich will need a licence, and the EICR that goes with it.

Boroughs without extra schemes

Not every council adds its own licensing. Richmond's HMO pages only describe the mandatory scheme, so most lets in Richmond don't need a licence at all. The five-yearly EICR still applies there, same as everywhere else.

If your borough isn't covered here, search its website for "property licensing". Every council we looked at has a postcode checker or a map, and the electrical evidence they ask for has been the same story each time.

Where landlords get caught out

Most licensing problems on the electrical side have nothing to do with dangerous wiring. They come down to timing and paperwork.

An EICR that runs out halfway through the licence

A licence can last up to five years. If your EICR is already four years old when you apply, it expires a year in. Hounslow and Kensington and Chelsea expect a valid report for the whole licence, and Croydon wants one every five years regardless. Get a fresh EICR when you apply and the report and the licence run side by side, so you're only chasing one renewal date instead of two.

Faults listed, but no proof they were fixed

A report showing C2s with no follow-up certificate is the quickest way to an awkward email from a licensing officer. Get the remedial work done, get the certificate for it, and only then upload anything.

The wrong certificate

An Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) is issued for new work. The condition report (EICR) covers the whole installation and ends with a verdict, satisfactory or unsatisfactory. So when a council asks for a certificate that says "satisfactory", it wants the EICR, whatever the form calls it. The one exception might be a house that's just been fully rewired, where the EIC covers everything. Ask the council before you rely on that.

Forgetting the HMO extras

For shared houses, the electrics don't stop at the EICR. Kensington and Chelsea asks for fire alarm and emergency lighting test certificates, and Wandsworth's list includes a PAT certificate. If you supply appliances, PAT testing is the easy one to forget. An alarm system nobody has tested is a problem in its own right, and we can fit and test smoke and heat alarms on the same visit as the EICR.

How to time your EICR around a licence application

1. Check your postcode on the council's licensing map. Ward boundaries changed across London in 2022, and some councils still list schemes by the old wards.
2. Book the EICR before you apply, not after. If the last one is more than a couple of years old, get a new one so it covers the life of the licence.
3. Clear any C1, C2 or FI items and keep the certificate for the remedial work.
4. Keep the PDFs where you can find them. Hammersmith and Fulham gives you 14 days to produce the EICR when asked, Brent gives you 28, and Wandsworth's conditions ask for a declaration of electrical safety within 7 days.
5. Give your tenants a copy within 28 days of the inspection, and new tenants before they move in. That's the national rule, licence or not.

For the renewal side of things, see how often you should get an EICR.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a licence to rent out my property in London?

It depends on the borough, the ward and who lives there. Shared homes with five or more people from more than one household need a mandatory HMO licence anywhere in England. Most London boroughs also license smaller HMOs, and many now license ordinary single-household lets in some or all of their wards. Your council's postcode checker will give you a definite answer.

What happens if I let a property without the licence it needs?

It's a criminal offence under the Housing Act 2004 (section 95 covers selective licences), and councils can issue civil penalties instead of prosecuting. Islington, for example, says it can fine up to £40,000 for each offence and apply for a rent repayment order of up to 24 months' rent.

Does Croydon have selective licensing?

Yes. Croydon's new selective scheme started on 25 September 2026 in 14 wards, including Fairfield, South Croydon, Thornton Heath and both Addiscombe wards. Additional HMO licensing covers the whole borough.

How old can my EICR be for a licence application?

Councils generally accept a report up to five years old, as long as it's marked satisfactory. Ealing and Islington both say so in their application lists. Some councils expect it to stay valid for the whole licence, so a newer report saves hassle later on.

Does a property licence replace the five-yearly EICR?

No. The licence sits on top of the national requirement. You still need an inspection at least every five years, and a copy for your tenants, whether or not the property is licensed.

Can I keep letting while my licence application is processed?

In Westminster, yes. The council says licences don't need to be approved before a property is rented, once the application is in. Check with your own council, and don't treat a pending application as a reason to put off the EICR.

Letting in London and need an EICR that will stand up to a licence application? See our landlord electrical services or book an EICR, or call us on 020 3653 2600 for a straight answer and a fixed quote.