LetLens / Licensing by council / Thurrock

Landlord licensing in Thurrock

Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England, so a property in Thurrock let to five or more people forming two or more households, who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet, needs a licence. Thurrock also runs additional HMO licensing and selective licensing, which can bring smaller HMOs, or every private rental, into licensing.

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 Thurrock 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£1,670 for a 5-bedroom HMOband 2-5 bedrooms
WhereEverywhere in Thurrock, as everywhere in England. Scope, fee schedule and source
What Thurrock 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 needAdditional HMO licence In force
It costs£1,670 for a 4-bedroom HMOband 2-5 bedrooms
WhereEverywhere in Thurrock. Scope, fee schedule and source
Your propertyLet privately inside a designated area, whether or not it is an HMO
You needSelective licence In force
It costs£1,034.90, the same for a rental of any size
Where16 designated wards, not the whole of Thurrock. Scope, fee schedule and source
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 RM16 2QP, a postcode near the centre of Thurrock, to see what a full report looks like.

Each scheme in detail, and the evidence behind it

Which properties each scheme catches in Thurrock, 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£1,670band 2-5 bedrooms

Where it applies: National scheme
Which properties: HMOs occupied by 5 or more persons forming 2 or more households who share amenities (mandatory HMO licensing, s55/s254 Housing Act 2004)

The published fee schedule

Licence term: Up to 5 years
Fee schedule dated: 1 April 2025

Fee by number of bedrooms
Size	Fee	Part 1 + part 2
2 to 5	£1,670	£694 + £976
6 to 10	£1,740	£722 + £1,018
11 to 15	£1,925	£866 + £1,059
16 to 20	£1,975	£855 + £1,120
21 to 29	£2,400	£966 + £1,434
30 or more	£2,775	£1,138 + £1,637

Renewal fee by number of bedrooms
Size	Fee	Part 1 + part 2
2 to 5	£1,540	£650 + £890
6 to 10	£1,630	£685 + £945
11 to 15	£1,790	£792 + £998
16 to 20	£1,950	£850 + £1,100
21 to 29	£2,250	£945 + £1,305
30 or more	£2,600	£1,033 + £1,567

Other charges

Change of manager / licence variation: £255
Assistance (per hour): £85
Paper HMO application surcharge: £108
Immigration suitability report: £228
Invalid HMO application / first reminder letter / correction not returned within 14 days: £27
Late licence-fee payment / second reminder letter: £54

Council source · How to apply · read 6 August 2026

Additional HMO licensing In force

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

Fee, 4-bed HMO£1,670band 2-5 bedrooms

Where it applies: Council-wide
Which properties: HMOs occupied by 3 or 4 persons forming 2 or more households that are not subject to mandatory HMO licensing (small HMOs below the 5-person mandatory threshold)
Designations in force: Thurrock Council Designation for an Area for Additional Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation 2025
Designation period: 7 September 2025 to 6 September 2030

The published fee schedule, identical to the mandatory scheme’s

Licence term: Up to 5 years
Fee schedule dated: 1 April 2025

Fee by number of bedrooms
Size	Fee	Part 1 + part 2
2 to 5	£1,670	£694 + £976
6 to 10	£1,740	£722 + £1,018
11 to 15	£1,925	£866 + £1,059
16 to 20	£1,975	£855 + £1,120
21 to 29	£2,400	£966 + £1,434
30 or more	£2,775	£1,138 + £1,637

Renewal fee by number of bedrooms
Size	Fee	Part 1 + part 2
2 to 5	£1,540	£650 + £890
6 to 10	£1,630	£685 + £945
11 to 15	£1,790	£792 + £998
16 to 20	£1,950	£850 + £1,100
21 to 29	£2,250	£945 + £1,305
30 or more	£2,600	£1,033 + £1,567

Other charges

Change of manager / licence variation: £255
Assistance (per hour): £85
Paper HMO application surcharge: £108
Immigration suitability report: £228
Invalid HMO application / first reminder letter / correction not returned within 14 days: £27
Late licence-fee payment / second reminder letter: £54

Council source · read 6 August 2026

Selective licensing In force

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

Licence fee, any size£1,034.90

Where it applies: 16 designated wards
Which properties: All privately rented dwellings (whether occupied by single adults, couples or families) within the 16 designated wards, excluding HMOs already covered by mandatory or additional licensing and properties within the statutory exemptions (Selective Licensing of Houses (Specified Exemptions) (England) Order 2006)
Designations in force: Thurrock Council Designation for Areas for Selective Licensing 2025 No 1
Designation period: 5 January 2026 to 4 January 2031

Thurrock Council Designation for Areas for Selective Licensing 2025 No 1 covers Aveley and Uplands, Belhus, Chadwell St Mary, Chafford and North Stifford, Corringham and Fobbing, East Tilbury, Grays Riverside, Grays Thurrock, Little Thurrock Rectory, Ockendon, South Chafford, Stanford East and Corringham Town, Stanford-le-Hope West, Tilbury Riverside and Thurrock Park, Tilbury St Chads, West Thurrock and South Stifford.

A designation can cover only part of a named ward, so check the exact address rather than relying on the ward name alone.

The published fee schedule

Fee: £1,034.90
Paid in two parts: £236.98 on application, then £797.92 when the licence is granted
Licence term: Up to 5 years
Fee schedule dated: 1 April 2025

Other charges

Higher rate (property unlicensed for 12+ weeks): Part A GBP236.98 + Part B GBP1,530.42: £1,767.40
Paper application surcharge: £500

Council source · read 6 August 2026

Article 4 and HMO planning permission in Thurrock None in force

No HMO Article 4 direction is in force in Thurrock, 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 in-force HMO Article 4 direction found. Thurrock Council's own 2024 HMO Licensing consultation FAQ states verbatim: 'Thurrock Council has not introduced an article 4 directive which can be applied to all or parts of the borough.' The FAQ notes the council COULD introduce one under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to require planning applications for C3-to-C4 conversions (HMOs up to 6 persons), but has not done so. Corroborated by planning.data.gov.uk, which returns zero article-4-direction-area entries for geometry_reference=E06000034. Thurrock is instead pursuing additional HMO LICENSING (expanded to 3-4 person / 2+ household properties from 7 Sep 2025), which is a housing-licensing regime, not a planning Article 4 direction, and does not remove the GPDO Sch2 Part3 Class L (C3->C4) permitted development right. Sources: https://consult.thurrock.gov.uk/hmo-licensing-24/widgets/102578/faqs ; https://www.planning.data.gov.uk/entity.json?dataset=article-4-direction-area&geometry_reference=E06000034 ; https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/houses-in-multiple-occupation/licensing-for-certain-hmos

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 Thurrock 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 Thurrock

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£703 pcmFrom 287 room listings in Thurrock.
Median whole-property rent£1,513 pcmFrom 143 whole-property listings.
Typical 4-bed rent£1,840 pcmThe comparison a room-by-room let is measured against.
HMO income premium+91%Five rooms let individually against one four-bedroom whole-property let, before the extra cost, licensing and voids that come with an HMO.
Median sale price£358,000Across 436 sales in 2026, all property types, HM Land Registry.
Gross yield, whole let5.1%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 HMO11.8%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£44,287Mean of net small-area median incomes around the council's main listing areas, not a council-wide median.
Postcodes with flood exposure21.2%694 of 3,280 indexed postcodes.
Postcodes in Flood Zone 3439 (13.4%)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.

Room rent by outcode

Room rent varies by £75 a month across Thurrock’s outcodes, so the council-wide median above is a starting point rather than the answer for a particular street.

Median room rent by outcode in Thurrock
Outcode	Median room rent	Room listings	Check a postcode
RM17	£700 pcm	69	Check RM17
RM16	£700 pcm	65	Check RM16
RM15	£700 pcm	44	Check RM15
RM18	£700 pcm	47	Check RM18
SS17	£625 pcm	26	Check SS17

Postcode districts in Thurrock

Licensing, Article 4 and the fee all turn on the exact address, because a designated area rarely follows the council boundary. LetLens holds 3,280 Thurrock 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 Thurrock?

How much does an HMO licence cost in Thurrock?

£1,670 for a five-bedroom, five-person HMO under the mandatory scheme, from the council's published fee schedule. Fee basis: band 2-5 bedrooms. Larger or smaller properties, and any additional or selective scheme, are priced separately.

Is there an Article 4 direction in Thurrock?

Which wards in Thurrock are covered by licensing?

Selective licensing under Thurrock Council Designation for Areas for Selective Licensing 2025 No 1 covers Aveley and Uplands, Belhus, Chadwell St Mary, Chafford and North Stifford, Corringham and Fobbing, East Tilbury, Grays Riverside, Grays Thurrock, Little Thurrock Rectory, Ockendon, South Chafford, Stanford East and Corringham Town, Stanford-le-Hope West, Tilbury Riverside and Thurrock Park, Tilbury St Chads, West Thurrock and South Stifford. A designation can cover only part of a named ward, so check the exact address rather than relying on the ward name alone.

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

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 Thurrock

Thurrock is a local housing authority in East of England, with a population of about 176,000 and 3,280 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 Thurrock

Thurrock licensing team · [email protected] · 01375 652652