How to Assemble a Selective Licensing Application Before You Submit

The portal asks for uploads, and the only paper to hand is a gas safety PDF in a chat. For a privately rented house in England, before the council decides, the file is a note of what this council’s selective-licensing page says about this address, only the documents this form names, the fit-and-proper declaration that council uses with proof it was sent, written notices to the people this form names with a date of service for each, and the submitted pack kept with the licence or the refusal.

That gas safety PDF fills a slot only when this form names one. The house in multiple occupation (HMO) licence pack is a different file, and so is a national rental-property database registration. If the house is outside an England designation, including a Welsh selective or additional scheme, this application does not apply.

Disclaimer: IziRento is operations software, not legal advice. Local tenancy rules vary; check a qualified adviser for binding decisions.

Whether this address is inside a current designation

The file starts with this address. Section 79 of the Housing Act 2004 applies Part 3, the selective-licensing rules, to a house in a current section 80 designation when the whole house is occupied under a non-exempt tenancy or licence, or under separate lettings of dwellings in it. Write what this page says about this address: inside the designation, outside it, or exempt. If the address is outside, stop, and do not pay.

A shaded street is not a licence requirement for every building on it. Social-housing tenancies are exempt under section 79(3). Further exemptions are in article 2 of the 2006 exemptions order. Section 85 requires a licence unless the house is an HMO to which Part 2 applies, a temporary exemption notice is in force, or a management order is in force. If this page is the HMO licence, stop. Oxford’s application guide says the selective system is not the one used for HMO licences. If a temporary exemption notice or a management order is already in force, leave this application unstarted.

Oxford’s guide says an application can be submitted only up to 4 weeks before the tenancy start date. Leeds says an empty property is not privately let and does not need a licence, and it encourages an application before new tenants move in. They are not one rule.

The GOV.UK guide for local authorities, updated on 16 December 2024 and in effect from 23 December 2024, says each property in a selective-licensing area needs a licence, and that a Part 2 HMO is outside that duty. The guide’s 10-week consultation is for making a designation, not for deciding an application. That guide does not list documents. If a fee was paid for a house that did not need a Part 2 or Part 3 licence, regulation 7(7) requires a full refund as soon as reasonably practicable. The regulation names no amount.

Only the documents this form names

Copy the document names printed on this selective application. Regulation 7 and Schedule 2 of the Licensing and Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation and Other Houses (Miscellaneous Provisions) (England) Regulations 2006 set out what an England application must contain. The same schedule is used for a Part 2 HMO licence, which is why the packs look alike, but it is not a reason to upload the HMO pack here.

A first application asks for the people, the address, an age band for the original construction, and the property counts in Schedule 2. The furniture and gas-appliance declarations on that form are statements. Where this form names a gas safety certificate, an electrical installation condition report (an EICR), or an energy performance certificate (an EPC), put in the copy already held.

Council pages opened on 10 October 2026 do not share one list. Leicester’s July 2026 guidance names a floor plan. Burnley’s August 2026 list does not. Oxford says a floor plan may be helpful, and it names an EPC among the certificate buttons. Westminster’s apply page, last updated on 18 June 2026, names a gas safety certificate where there is gas, an EICR, and proof of address. It does not name an EPC or a passport. Rotherham names a driving licence or a passport.

A floor plan, a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, a passport, or a repair-reporting procedure goes in only when this form names it. A basic DBS dated within the last 12 months applies if holder and manager lack a Burnley licence. Repair reporting is general. A UK holder and a manager 40 minutes away are Burnley’s rules. Leeds will not license an overseas proposed holder. Oxford and Westminster accept an overseas holder who provides a declaration or an explanation. Follow this page, and use the renewal form only for a Part 3 licence already held for this house.

The declaration on this council’s form

Fit and proper is the test of whether the proposed licence holder and the manager are suitable to hold or manage the licence. Section 88 is the decision to grant or refuse. Section 89 is the test. The authority must have regard to evidence of offences involving fraud or other dishonesty, violence or drugs, offences in Schedule 3 to the Sexual Offences Act 2003, unlawful discrimination in business, and breaches of housing or landlord and tenant law. A banning order already in force under section 16 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 means the person is not fit and proper.

Paragraph 4 of Schedule 2 is the declaration you sign: the information is correct to the best of your knowledge, and notice has been served on the people who must be told, with name, address, interest, and date of service. If the applicant is not the proposed licence holder, regulation 7(4) requires both signatures. Use this council’s declaration. Leicester’s number comes from its own form and arrives by email. Oxford asks about criminal offences. A blog form is not a substitute. The signed page or the reference email proves it was sent, and it is not the licence.

Who is told before the application goes in

The notices are in writing, and they go out before you submit. Regulation 7(5) says what each one contains: your name, address, telephone number, and any email or fax number; the same details for the proposed licence holder if that is not you; that this is an application for a house which must be licensed under Part 3; the address of the house; the name and address of the authority; and the date the application is made or will be made.

Schedule 2, paragraph 1, names them: the mortgage lender; any other owner you know about, such as the freeholder or a head lessor (a landlord above you); a tenant or long leaseholder you know about, other than a statutory tenant, a periodic tenant, or a tenant with under three years left; the proposed licence holder and manager if that is not you; and anyone who has agreed to be bound by a condition. Regulation 7(10) removes a tenant with three years or less left. Record name, address, interest, and date of service. Give the notice in writing or as a copy. The regulations set no postal method. If this page includes a letter, use that letter. An acknowledgement shows the notice was sent. It is not the grant or the refusal.

Under section 87 the authority may require a fee it fixes, and the section states no amount. What comes back under section 88 is a grant or a refusal, and the submitted pack is filed with it. Section 79 allows a reasonable time and states no number of days. Under section 84 the designation ends on the date it states, no later than five years after it comes into force. Those five years are the longest a designation may run. They are not the expiry on the licence, and they are not the council’s decision time.

The file is complete when it holds the designation note for this address, the copies this form names, the declaration and proof it was sent, the notices with dates of service, and the submitted pack beside the licence or the refusal. If the page puts this address outside the designation, or the form is the HMO licence, stop at that note and do not pay. IziRento stores the file. It does not check the designation, serve the notices, pay the fee, or grant the licence.