Selective licensing Greenwich: what landlords need to know

Landlord licence Greenwich at a glance

Sources: Royal Borough of Greenwich pages listed under Sources, checked 21 October 2026.

How big is the private rented sector in Greenwich?

Greenwich had 29,088 privately renting households at the 2021 Census, out of 114,051 in total: 25.5% of all households, against 20.3% for England and Wales. That puts Greenwich 41st of 331 local authorities by number of private renting households and 51st by share. Owner-occupiers made up 41.1% (46,927 households) and social renters 31.0% (35,327).

Selective licensing in Greenwich

The current selective designation covers an area of the borough around Woolwich and Plumstead: parts of Plumstead & Glyndon, Plumstead Common, Shooters Hill, Woolwich Common and Woolwich Arsenal/Dockyard (the former Woolwich Riverside area). It took effect on 1 October 2022 and ends on 1 October 2027. Inside the area, privately rented homes that aren't HMOs need a selective licence. The boundary follows the designation map rather than whole wards, so check the address.

The council published a selective licensing consultation and evidence report in 2026, looking at the future of selective licensing in the borough. We'll update this page when a decision is published.

Greenwich additional and mandatory HMO licensing

Additional HMO licensing covers the whole borough from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2028. It applies to smaller HMOs, generally 3 or 4 people from more than one household, that aren't covered by mandatory licensing. Larger HMOs with 5 or more people need a mandatory licence. Both use the same per-letting fee.

Greenwich landlord licence fees

As published by the council. Selective licence: £905.75. HMO licence (mandatory and additional): £527.82 per letting for up to 5 lettings, then £316.69 for each extra letting, so a 5-letting HMO costs £2,639.10 and a 6-letting HMO £2,955.79. You pay in 2 stages: half when you apply and the rest when the council issues your draft licence. There are no instalment plans. The council's 2026/27 fees schedule also lists a discounted selective fee of £678.78 where the landlord agrees an assured shorthold tenancy with a council-nominated tenant.

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 Greenwich? A quick check

1. Count the people and households living in the property.
2. If 5 or more people from 2 or more households share facilities, you need a mandatory HMO licence.
3. If 3 or 4 people from more than one household share, you need an additional HMO licence anywhere in Greenwich.
4. If it's a single-household let inside the Woolwich and Plumstead selective area, you need a selective licence.
5. Elsewhere in the borough, a single-household let doesn't need a licence for now.

People also ask about landlord licensing in Greenwich

Do I need a landlord licence in Woolwich? Probably, for a single-household let, as much of the Woolwich area is in the selective scheme. Shared houses need an HMO licence anywhere in Greenwich.

How much is a Greenwich selective licence? £905.75, paid half on application and half when the draft licence is issued.

How much is a Greenwich HMO licence? £527.82 per letting for the first 5, then £316.69 per extra letting.

What every Greenwich landlord must do, licence or not

Whatever the licensing position for your street, the core safety and paperwork duties for Greenwich landlords are the same as anywhere in England:

• gas safety: a Gas Safe check every 12 months, with the record given to tenants;
• electrical safety: an EICR at least every 5 years, with a copy to tenants;
• energy: an EPC of at least band E, unless the property is exempt;
• deposits: protected in an approved scheme within 30 days, with the prescribed information served;
• alarms: a smoke alarm on every storey with living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in rooms with a fixed combustion appliance (except gas cookers);
• Right to Rent: checks on all adult occupiers before the tenancy starts.

These are also the documents a council is most likely to ask for when it processes an application or carries out a compliance visit.

What happens if you let without the right licence in Greenwich?

If a property needs a licence and doesn't have one, the landlord commits an offence. The council can prosecute (with an unlimited fine on conviction) or issue a civil penalty of up to £40,000, the limit that has applied since 1 May 2026, and tenants can claim back up to 24 months' rent through a rent repayment order. Westminster, Brighton & Hove and Islington are among the councils that publish these limits. Applying promptly matters: the offence is avoided once a valid application has been made.

Keeping to your licence conditions

Councils grant most licences for up to 5 years and attach conditions, such as providing a gas safety certificate each year on request, maintaining smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, producing electrical safety reports, and handling repairs promptly. Inspectors check these against your records.

Gaffy keeps those records in order. Upload each certificate once, tag its expiry date, and Gaffy tells you what's expired or coming up, property by property. Tenants send repair requests with photos through a simple link, with no app to install, so you build a dated history of what was reported and when it was fixed. Pricing is £12 a month for up to 5 properties, then £4 a month per extra property, and your first month is free. We don't submit licence applications on your behalf.