The Selective Licensing Scheme makes it mandatory to licence a property with the council and meet the required licensing conditions, for any privately rented property to:
- a single-family household, or
- a household occupied by no more than 2 unrelated sharers.
Phase 1 Wards
The first phase of the scheme came into force on Monday 2 September 2024 in the following wards:
- Knights Hill
- Streatham Common and Vale
- Streatham Hill East
- Streatham St. Leonard's
Phase 2 Wards
The second phase of the scheme comes into force on Monday 1 September 2025 in the following wards:
- Brixton Acre Lane
- Brixton North
- Brixton Rush Common
- Brixton Windrush
- Clapham Common and Abbeville
- Clapham East
- Clapham Park
- Clapham Town
- Gipsy Hill
- Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction
- Kennington
- Myatts Field
- Oval
- St. Martin's
- Stockwell East
- Stockwell West and Larkhall
- Streatham Hill West and Thornton Ward
- Streatham Wells
- West Dulwich
Phase 1 and 2 will apply to all wards in the London Borough of Lambeth, excluding Vauxhall and Waterloo & South Bank.
All privately rented properties within a selective licensing area must be licensed. Please make an application online as soon as possible to avoid operating an unlicensed property.
Early applications for Phase 2 wards will open from Friday 1 August 2025.
Apply for the Selective Licensing Scheme
The Selective Licensing Scheme will:
- help to identify poorly performing landlords, letting and managing agents
- improve the health and safety of tenants
- help landlords raise their standards
- improve the physical condition of private rented properties
- support good landlords
- help tackle neighbourhood problems.
The scheme will also complement the existing property licensing schemes that are already in place for properties rented as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO).
For information on the consultation and documentation regarding the selective licensing scheme please visit our privately rented properties consultations page.
Consequences of failing to licence
Failure to licence your property is a criminal offence.
Upon the designation coming into force, a person commits an offence and will be liable for action to be taken against them if they are the person having control of or managing a property which is required to be licensed under the licensing designation but is not licensed, and you may be subject to the following:
- Prosecution, and on conviction, a court may impose an unlimited fine.
- The council may, as an alternative to prosecution, impose a financial penalty of up to £30,000.
- The tenant(s) and/or the council may also apply to the First-Tier Tribunal (Residential Tribunal) for a rent repayment order.
- You would be unable to recover possession of the property using a Section 21, Housing Act 1988 notice.
- The landlord/managing agent may also be banned from running a rental property.
Definition of a single-family household
A single-family household is defined as members of the same family living together. This can include:
- couples married to each other or living together as husband and wife (or in an equivalent relationship in the case of persons of the same sex)
- relatives living together, including parents, grandparents, children (and stepchildren), grandchildren, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces or cousins
- half-relatives (who will be treated as full relatives)
- foster children living with a foster parent or parents
- single persons
Please note: A group on one tenancy agreement does not necessarily mean that it is a single household.
Documents required with your application
To process a selective licence application, the following documents will be requested:
- Land registry title for the freehold and leasehold where applicable – must be dated within 28 days of application
- Gas safety certificate
- Electrical Installation Condition Report – you must conduct remedial works if there are any C1 and C2 deficiencies noted
- Electrical Installation Condition Certificate – this must evidence any C1 and C2 deficiencies noted on your Electrical Installation Condition Report have been remedied
- Energy Performance Certificate (applicable if applying for EPC discount)
- Accreditation Evidence - if you are accredited or where applicable, a member of the recognised schemes listed below at the time of application, and are the proposed licence holder
- Annotated Floor plan
- Current Tenancy/Management agreement(s) – Must include the named tenants included
The list is not exhaustive, and specific additional documentation might be needed.
The council will request any missing documents not provided with the initial application, but please note that failure to provide us with the missing documents within a reasonable timeframe may result in your application being refused, and no refund will be given for the Part A fee already paid.
Fees
The fee per licence is £923.
This fee is broken down into 2 parts:
- Part A (£650) for administration of the application
- Part B (£273) for managing and enforcing the licensing scheme
Part B becomes payable when the licence has been approved and prior to the licence being issued and covers the cost of enforcing the scheme.
The part B payment is automatically debited once we have issued your draft licence.
Discounts
Discounts will be determined on receipt of a full application and all supporting documents and will be applied if you:
Have an EPC rating of C or better
A £50 discount will be applied to the Part B fee for an EPC rating of C or better.
The £50 discount will be applied as a discount once the draft licence has been issued, and before the part B payment is debited.
You must provide evidence that your property has an EPC rating of C or better during the application process or upon request.
Please note that the £50 discount will not be applied at the time of the application.
We support the move to improve energy efficiency across properties in Lambeth, which contributes to our climate change agenda and helps to keep the cost of living down by reducing heating bills.
Are an accredited landlord
If you are accredited under one of the following schemes, you may be entitled to a £75 discount:
- London Landlord Accreditation Scheme (LLAS)
- National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA)
- UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA)
The licence holder needs to be accredited at the time of application.
If you are a member of one of the following schemes, you may be entitled to a £75 discount:
- Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA)
- Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
- Safeagent
The licence holder needs to be a member at the time of application.
Should the licence holder believe they have an appropriate membership or accreditation which is not listed, they will have the opportunity to submit a case to be included.
The £75 will be applied as a discount once the draft licence has been issued, and before part B payment is debited.
Are a landlord who has more than one flat in a block
You will be subject to the full Part A and Part B fees for flat 1, and a £100 discount in Part A fees only for all subsequent flats in the same block.
This discount is applicable where multiple properties are:
a. In common ownership and management control.
b. Contiguous with each other in the same block or building
c. All applications made at the same time
Applicants can submit and pay for 8 applications at one time via our application portal using a card.
This discount will be applied as a retrospective refund to any applicable applications once the draft licence has been issued for each of the flats and the part B payment has been debited.
Contact us
If you are a landlord, managing agent or a tenant and wish to enquire whether your property is affected by the additional licensing designation, please contact us by email at PRSLicensing@lambeth.gov.uk or by post at:
PRS Licensing Team
London Borough of Lambeth
PO Box 80771
London
SW2 9QQ