Selective licensing Brighton and Hove: what landlords need in 2026

Landlord licence Brighton and Hove at a glance

Sources: Brighton & Hove City Council pages listed under Sources, checked 21 October 2026.

How big is the private rented sector in Brighton and Hove?

At the 2021 Census, 39,684 of Brighton and Hove's 121,402 households rented privately. That's 32.7% of households, well above the 20.3% average across England and Wales. By number of privately renting households, Brighton and Hove ranked 19 of the 331 local authorities in England and Wales; by share it ranked 14. For comparison, 62,417 households (51.4%) owned their home and 18,051 (14.9%) rented socially.

Selective licensing in Brighton and Hove

The current selective scheme runs from 2 September 2024 to 1 September 2029 in Kemptown, Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, Queens Park, and Whitehawk and Marina. In those wards you need a selective licence if you let to one occupier, 2 occupiers or a family. It also applies to single-storey properties (flats or bungalows) with 3 or 4 unrelated occupiers that aren't covered by the HMO schemes. A licence runs from the application date until the scheme ends, so applying later doesn't buy you a longer licence.

Regency and Central Hove: the paused designation

The council made a designation on 6 July 2026 to extend selective licensing to Regency and Central Hove wards from 20 October 2026, running to 19 October 2031. It has since announced a pause following a legal challenge, saying it's reviewing next steps; it hasn't named a new start date. Until the council confirms otherwise, single-household lets in those two wards don't need a selective licence, but we'd keep paperwork ready in case the scheme goes ahead. We'll update this page when the council does.

Additional and mandatory HMO licensing in Brighton and Hove

Additional HMO licensing applies across the whole city to HMOs of 2 or more storeys with 3 or 4 unrelated occupiers, from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2029. Single-storey shared flats with 3 or 4 occupiers aren't in the additional scheme; in the four selective wards they need a selective licence instead. Mandatory HMO licensing applies to HMOs with 5 or more unrelated occupiers anywhere in the city.

Brighton and Hove landlord licence fees

Selective licence: £740 standard, paid as £518 (Part A) and £222 (Part B). One discount brings it to £665, two to £590. A late application, made once you've been operating a licensable property for more than 28 days without a licence, costs £840, with no discounts.

Additional HMO licence: £883 for 3 or 4 unrelated occupiers on one tenancy (£808 with one discount, £733 with two, £995 late), or £1,127 where there are 3 or 4 separate tenancies (£1,052, £977, £1,193 late).

Mandatory HMO licence for 5 or more occupiers on one tenancy: £906 for 5 occupants, £927 for 6 to 8, £950 for 9 to 11 and £972 for 12 to 14, with re-licensing from £740. Where there are 5 or more separate tenancies, fees start at £1,137. The council's online form calculates your exact fee.

Councils usually split a licence fee into two parts: one paid when you apply, covering processing, and one paid before the licence is granted, covering running and enforcing the scheme. Where the council publishes the split, we show it above. Fees are reviewed regularly, so treat these as correct on the date we checked and confirm on the council's fee page before you pay.

Do I need a landlord licence in Brighton and Hove? A quick check

1. Count the people, households and tenancies in the property.
2. If 5 or more unrelated people share, you need a mandatory HMO licence.
3. If 3 or 4 unrelated people share a property of 2 or more storeys, you need an additional HMO licence anywhere in the city.
4. If it's a single-storey flat or bungalow with 3 or 4 sharers, or a 1 to 2 person or family let, in Kemptown, Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, Queens Park or Whitehawk and Marina, you need a selective licence.
5. In Regency or Central Hove, watch for the council's decision on the paused scheme.

People also ask about landlord licensing in Brighton and Hove

Do I need a landlord licence in Brighton? For a shared house of 3 or more people, yes, anywhere in the city. For a single-household let, only in the four selective wards for now.

Has Brighton selective licensing been extended to Hove? The council designated Regency and Central Hove from 20 October 2026, but paused the scheme after a legal challenge. No new start date has been announced.

How much is a selective licence in Brighton and Hove? £740 standard, £665 or £590 with discounts, and £840 if late.

What every Brighton and Hove landlord must do, licence or not

Licensing sits on top of the duties every landlord in England already has. Whether or not your Brighton and Hove property needs a licence, you still need to:

• have every gas appliance, flue and pipework checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer every 12 months, and give tenants a copy of the record;
• have the electrical installation inspected and tested at least every 5 years, and give tenants the report;
• hold a valid EPC rated E or above before you let, unless the property is exempt;
• protect any deposit in a government-approved scheme within 30 days and give the prescribed information;
• fit a smoke alarm on every storey used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance (gas cookers excepted);
• carry out Right to Rent checks before a tenancy starts.

A council considering a licence application, or inspecting a licensed property, will usually ask to see evidence of the first four.

What happens if you let without the right licence in Brighton and Hove?

Letting a property that needs a licence without one is a criminal offence. Since 1 May 2026, councils can issue civil penalties of up to £40,000 per offence as an alternative to prosecution, and tenants can apply for a rent repayment order covering up to 24 months' rent; several councils, including Brighton & Hove, Westminster and Islington, now state these limits on their own pages. Prosecution can lead to an unlimited fine. The practical point: once a valid application is in, you're treated as having applied, so apply as soon as you know a licence is needed.

Keeping to your licence conditions

A licence normally lasts up to 5 years, and councils attach conditions to it: typically that you send an updated gas safety certificate when asked, keep smoke alarms working, provide electrical safety certificates, and deal with repairs properly. Keeping on top of those conditions is mostly a matter of records.

That's the part Gaffy helps with. Each property gets a vault where you store the gas safety certificate, EICR and EPC with their expiry dates, and Gaffy flags anything expired or expiring soon, so the certificate a licence condition asks for doesn't lapse. Tenants report repairs through a link in their phone's browser, with photos, which gives you a dated repair history if the council asks. Gaffy is £12 a month for up to 5 properties, plus £4 a month for each extra property, and the first month is free. We don't apply for licences on your behalf.