Licensing
Some houses of multiple occupancy (HMO properties) that are rented privately in Liverpool must have a licence. This is required to show that the property meets a decent standard and the landlord is a ‘fit and proper person’.
There are two types of licence:
Mandatory licence
This covers all properties that are occupied by five or more tenants forming two or more unrelated households or groups (you are not all in the same family).
Selective licence
This covers every other type of property (there are some limited exceptions such as university owned accommodation or living as a lodger in someone’s home). An initial 5 year citywide selective licence scheme ran from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2020.
A second 5 year selective licensing scheme started on 1 April 2022, covering 16 wards in Liverpool. As such, whilst the majority of student properties are likely to be in these 16 wards, there will be some student properties that do not fall in this area, and therefore may not need a licence. You can use Liverpool City Council's postcode look-up tool to check whether your student property is in a ward where a licence is needed.
In recognition of the importance of the service Liverpool Student Homes (LSH) offers in ensuring through the LSH Standards, the quality of student accommodation in Liverpool is raised and students are protected from poor housing conditions, Liverpool City Council has acknowledged LSH as an approved landlord association. As such, properties that have been fully LSH accredited can benefit from a discounted licence fee.
For further information and to make an application for a property licence, please visit the Liverpool City Council website.
Please note, when adding property details onto the LSH website, accommodation providers must supply evidence that a licence has been granted or that you have begun the process of application.