LetLens / Licensing by council / Bromsgrove

Landlord licensing in Bromsgrove

Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England, so a property in Bromsgrove let to five or more people forming two or more households, who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet, needs a licence. Bromsgrove runs no additional or selective licensing scheme of its own, so smaller shared houses and ordinary rentals do not need a council licence here.

The licence you need turns on who lives in the property. Find the line that describes your let.

Required by national lawThe same in all 296 English councils. Not a Bromsgrove decision.
Your propertyLet to 5 or more people forming 2 or more households who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet
You needMandatory HMO licence In force England-wide
It costs£784 for a 5-bedroom HMO£156/occupant
WhereEverywhere in Bromsgrove, as everywhere in England. Scope, fee schedule and source
What Bromsgrove requires on topSchemes this council chose to run, and what differs from the council next door.
Your propertyA smaller shared house the national scheme does not reach, typically 3 or 4 sharers forming 2 or more households
You needNo additional HMO licence No scheme
Your propertyLet privately inside a designated area, whether or not it is an HMO
You needNo selective licence No scheme
Planning permission, a separate questionNot licensing. Whether you may create an HMO at all, decided by the council’s planning side.
Your planConverting a house (use class C3) into a small HMO (use class C4)
You needPlanning permission None in force
WhereNo direction here, so this is normally permitted development. The direction, its dates and its boundary

Each fee is for the example property named on its own line, from the council’s published schedule. Other sizes are priced separately; the full schedules, discounts and surcharges are below.

Most recent source check: 6 August 2026. Each figure below carries the date its own source was read.

Or open B60 1HT, a postcode near the centre of Bromsgrove, to see what a full report looks like.

Each scheme in detail, and the evidence behind it

Which properties each scheme catches in Bromsgrove, in the council’s own words, with the designations in force, the whole published fee schedule and the source for every figure. The three regimes can stack: a property can need a licence under one and still be caught by another.

Mandatory HMO licensing In force England-wide

Set by national law, not by the council. Any property let to five or more people forming two or more households who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet needs a licence, anywhere in England.

Fee, 5-bed HMO£784£156/occupant

Where it applies: National scheme
Which properties: Licensable HMO where the property is occupied by at least 5 persons comprising two or more households who share at least one basic amenity such as a bathroom or kitchen (mandatory HMO licensing, ss.254-259 Housing Act 2004)

The published fee schedule

Size charge: £156.80 per occupant
Licence term: Up to 5 years

Council source · read 6 August 2026

Additional HMO licensing No scheme

A council may extend HMO licensing to smaller HMOs, typically three or four sharers, across all or part of its area.

Council source · read 6 August 2026

Selective licensing No scheme

A council may require a licence for every private rented home in a designated area, whether or not it is an HMO.

Council source · read 6 August 2026

Article 4 and HMO planning permission in Bromsgrove None in force

No HMO Article 4 direction is in force in Bromsgrove, so converting a house into a small HMO occupied by no more than six residents (use class C4) is normally permitted development and does not need planning permission on those grounds. An HMO for seven or more residents falls outside class C4 and needs permission anyway.

The research note behind this verdict

No HMO Article 4 found. planning.data.gov.uk returns zero records for both article-4-direction and article-4-direction-area for Bromsgrove (organisation_entity=60, geometry_reference=E07000234): https://www.planning.data.gov.uk/entity.json?dataset=article-4-direction-area&organisation_entity=60&limit=500 . Crawled every planning, conservation, HMO and landlord page on www.bromsgrove.gov.uk (site map at https://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/site-map/ plus one level deeper, ~90 pages): the string 'Article 4' does not appear anywhere, and the HMO pages (https://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/residents/my-home/living-in-a-house-in-multiple-occupation-hmo/ and https://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/business/landlords/landlord-regulatory-requirements-including-hmos/) cover only HMO licensing and amenity standards, with no planning-permission-required statement. The only Article 4 direction traced on the council's committee system is the Hewell Grange Article 4(1)/4(2) direction made under the GPDO 1995 (heritage/parkland permitted-development rights, not C3 to C4): https://moderngovwebpublic.bromsgrove.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=10945 . The emerging Bromsgrove District Local Plan Development Strategy consultation document (June 2025) contains no mention of 'HMO', 'multiple occupation' or 'Article 4': https://moderngovwebpublic.bromsgrove.gov.uk/documents/s63033/Development%20Strategy%20Consultation%20Document%20June%202025.pdf . No evidence of a made-but-not-yet-in-force HMO direction either.

checked 26 July 2026

What happens if you let without a licence

Letting or managing an unlicensed property that needs a licence is a criminal offence, under section 72 of the Housing Act 2004 for an HMO and section 95 for a property caught by selective licensing. A council can prosecute, or impose a civil penalty instead. For conduct on or after 1 May 2026 that penalty can be up to £40,000 per offence, raised from £30,000 by the Financial Penalties (Housing Offences and Breach of Banning Orders) Regulations 2026. Tenants and the council can also apply for a rent repayment order, which for conduct from the same date can claw back up to two years of rent, up from one, under section 103 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025.

Both of those maxima apply only to conduct on or after 1 May 2026. Earlier conduct is still judged against the old £30,000 and twelve-month limits. Each breach is normally penalised separately, so an unlicensed portfolio in Bromsgrove multiplies the exposure rather than capping it.

Sources: Housing Act 2004 s72 · SI 2026/319 · Renters' Rights Act 2025 s103 · Shelter Legal England. Indicative only, not legal advice.

The letting market in Bromsgrove

Licensing is only one side of the sum. These are medians from real listings we have collected, with the number of listings behind each one, because a median over a handful of adverts is a different claim from a median over hundreds.

Median room rent£594 pcmFrom 21 room listings in Bromsgrove.
Median whole-property rent£1,162 pcmFrom 28 whole-property listings.
Typical 4-bed rent£1,532 pcmThe comparison a room-by-room let is measured against.
Median sale price£340,000Across 321 sales in 2026, all property types, HM Land Registry.
Gross yield, whole let4.1%Median whole-property rent for a year against the median sale price. Before voids, management, repairs, licensing and finance, all of which a real return has to carry.
Gross yield, 5-room HMO10.5%Five rooms at the median room rent against the same median sale price. The higher figure is what pays for the licence, the extra management and the higher voids, rather than being profit on top of them.
Typical household income£39,718Mean of net small-area median incomes around the council's main listing areas, not a council-wide median.
Postcodes with flood exposure1.8%51 of 2,893 indexed postcodes.
Postcodes in Flood Zone 334 (1.2%)The Environment Agency's highest-probability zone. Lenders and insurers ask about this one by name, and it is a subset of the exposure above.

Postcode districts in Bromsgrove

Licensing, Article 4 and the fee all turn on the exact address, because a designated area rarely follows the council boundary. LetLens holds 2,893 Bromsgrove postcodes. Open one of its postcode districts to see the verdict, the local rent evidence and the investment model.

Common questions

Do I need an HMO licence in Bromsgrove?

How much does an HMO licence cost in Bromsgrove?

£784 for a five-bedroom, five-person HMO under the mandatory scheme, from the council's published fee schedule. Fee basis: £156/occupant. Larger or smaller properties, and any additional or selective scheme, are priced separately.

Is there an Article 4 direction in Bromsgrove?

What is the penalty for letting an unlicensed property in Bromsgrove?

Letting or managing a property that needs a licence without one is a criminal offence under the Housing Act 2004. The council can prosecute or impose a civil penalty, which for conduct on or after 1 May 2026 can be up to £40,000 per offence, raised from £30,000 by the Financial Penalties (Housing Offences and Breach of Banning Orders) Regulations 2026. Tenants or the council can also seek a rent repayment order covering up to two years of rent for conduct from that date, up from one year, under section 103 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Each breach is normally penalised separately. Indicative only, not legal advice.

About Bromsgrove

Bromsgrove is a local housing authority in West Midlands, with a population of about 101,000 and 2,893 live postcodes indexed by LetLens. It is the licensing authority for every private rented property inside its boundary, and the local planning authority that decides whether an Article 4 direction applies.

Nearby councils

Licensing stops at the council boundary, so a street on the other side of it can carry a different scheme and a different fee.

Contact Bromsgrove

Bromsgrove licensing team · [email protected] · 01527 534123