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Landlord compliance · Croydon licensing

Croydon selective & HMO licensing 2026: wards, fees and what to do

Two new Croydon Council schemes come into force on 25 September 2026, with online applications opening the same day: a selective licensing scheme across 14 wards and an additional HMO licensing scheme borough-wide. If your rental is in scope, letting without a licence is a criminal offence. Here's who's covered, what it costs, and how to stay on the right side of it.

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General guidance, not legal advice · last reviewed 17 September 2026 · always verify with Croydon Council & GOV.UK

The headline

What's changing on 25 September 2026

The date

Schemes go live

Both new schemes come into force on 25 September 2026. Online applications open on the same day — you can't apply before the scheme starts.

Selective

14 wards

Covers privately rented single-family homes in 14 designated wards — not the whole borough. Check whether your address is inside one.

Additional HMO

Borough-wide

Covers smaller HMOs of 3–4 occupants across the whole of Croydon. Larger HMOs of 5+ already need a mandatory HMO licence everywhere.

This page is about Croydon specifically. For the national picture — how mandatory, additional and selective licensing differ — see our landlord licensing requirements pillar.

Selective licensing

The 14 selective-licensing wards

If you let a single-family home (not an HMO) in any of these wards, you'll need a selective licence from 25 September 2026. At the time of writing the designated wards are:

  • Addiscombe East
  • Addiscombe West
  • Bensham Manor
  • Broad Green
  • Fairfield
  • Norbury and Pollards Hill
  • Norbury Park
  • Selhurst
  • South Croydon
  • South Norwood
  • Thornton Heath
  • Waddon
  • West Thornton
  • Woodside

Ward boundaries don't always follow the address you'd expect, and designations can change — confirm your exact property against Croydon Council's scheme map before you assume you're in or out. An HMO in a selective ward is licensed under the HMO scheme (or mandatory HMO licensing), not the selective scheme.

Fees & what to apply with

What a Croydon licence costs — and needs

💷 The reported fees

  • Selective licence — £800 per property for a five-year licence: £480 Part A on application, £320 Part B when granted
  • Additional HMO licence — a four-figure fee (reported around £1,250) for a five-year licence

Fees are set by the council and can change. Confirm the current amounts and any discounts (e.g. early-bird or accredited-landlord rates) on Croydon Council's site before you pay.

📋 What an application usually needs

  • Completed online application + floor plans
  • Gas safety record, EICR and EPC
  • Alarms/detection detail and, for HMOs, a fire risk assessment
  • The relevant fee (and, for HMOs, room-size/amenity details)

The precise document list is set by Croydon Council — check its application guidance for the current requirements.

Two-minute job

Am I covered? How to check

✅ The steps

  • Is it an HMO of 3–4 people? → additional HMO scheme, anywhere in Croydon
  • Is it an HMO of 5+ people? → mandatory HMO licensing (separate, nationwide)
  • Single-family let in one of the 14 wards? → selective licence
  • Confirm the address on Croydon Council's scheme map, then apply from 25 Sept

⚠️ Easy to get wrong

  • Assuming a nearby street means you're covered — check the actual ward
  • Forgetting the HMO scheme is borough-wide, not just the 14 wards
  • Letting the underlying gas/EICR/EPC lapse — a licence relies on them
  • Missing the licence's own five-year renewal down the line

Related: our national licensing requirements guide, and does the PRS Database replace selective licensing? — a Croydon licence and the forthcoming national database are separate obligations.

The stakes

What letting without a required licence can cost

Operating a licensable property without a licence is a criminal offence under the Housing Act 2004. Croydon Council can either issue a civil penalty or prosecute:

  • Civil penalty — a substantial financial penalty per offence, as an alternative to prosecution
  • Prosecution — an unlimited fine on conviction
  • A Rent Repayment Order — up to 24 months' rent repaid to the tenant or council
  • Restrictions on regaining possession while the property is unlicensed

Exact penalty figures and rules change and are set nationally — treat these as general guidance and verify the current position on GOV.UK and with Croydon Council. Not legal advice.

Where LandlordProof fits

We don't issue the licence — we keep it in date

A Croydon licence lasts five years and depends on certificates that expire sooner. LandlordProof keeps them together so nothing slips:

  • Track the licence's own five-year expiry, per property
  • Track the gas, EICR and EPC the licence relies on
  • Remind you 60/30/7 days before any of them lapse
  • Evidence pack in one click if the council asks

Honest about it: LandlordProof does not decide whether a Croydon scheme applies to you or issue any licence — that's the council's role. It's a record-keeping and reminder tool, and it isn't legal advice. See the full picture on the compliance tracker.

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