We found no additional or selective licensing scheme in force in Watford on the council's website as of 28 Sep 2026. Mandatory HMO licensing applies everywhere in England to HMOs with 5 or more people in 2 or more households.
Selective: none foundAdditional HMO: none foundMandatory HMO: alwaysChecked 28 Sep 2026
We found no additional or selective licensing scheme in force on Watford Borough Council's website as of 28 Sep 2026. Mandatory HMO licensing still applies to any HMO with 5 or more people in 2 or more households. Confirm with the council (council page).
Whatever the local schemes, a licence is required for any house in multiple occupation let to 5 or more people forming 2 or more households who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. This rule is national and has applied since 1 October 2018. Letting without a required licence is a criminal offence under section 72 of the Housing Act 2004. Read do I need an HMO licence? and how to apply.
The council's public register of licensed properties: Watford Borough Council public register. Use it to check whether a property already holds a licence, for example before you buy. Licences do not transfer to a new owner.
Watford does not publish Article 4 data to the national planning data platform, so we cannot tell you from official data whether an HMO Article 4 direction applies. Absence of data is not absence of a direction: check the council's planning pages.
Licensing and planning are separate. A licence does not give planning permission, and planning permission does not replace a licence. See Article 4 and HMOs.
Figures below count First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) decisions published on GOV.UK for properties located in Watford. They show how tenants and the council use enforcement here. Most civil penalties are paid without appeal, so they never reach the tribunal.
| Rent repayment order decisions | 2 (1 in the last 3 years) |
|---|---|
| Orders made | 2 (100% of decisions with a known outcome) |
| Median award | £4,520 (last 3 years: £3,000) |
| Total awarded | £9,040 |
| Civil penalty appeals | 0 |
| Other Housing Act appeals (licence terms, notices, orders) | 1 |
| Decided | Area | Property | Offence alleged | Outcome | Amount | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Apr 2025 | WD18 | House / not stated | failure to comply with improvement notice | Order made | £3,000 | GOV.UK |
| 16 Aug 2023 | WD17 | HMO | unlicensed HMO | Order made | £6,040 | GOV.UK |
| 25 Apr 2023 | WD24 | HMO | unlicensed HMO; unlicensed (selective licensing); breach of banning order | Withdrawn / struck out | — | GOV.UK |
Amounts and outcomes are extracted automatically from the decision text and can be wrong; open the decision on GOV.UK for the full reasons. Party names are not shown. Information, not legal advice.
If you have let without a licence you needed, read unlicensed property: what to do, rent repayment orders and civil penalties.
Watford is in the East of England region of the new Private Rented Sector Database. Registration opens 15 Jan 2027 and the deadline to register is 14 Apr 2027. The published fee is £65 per property per year. Database registration is separate from council licensing: you may need both. See register your rental property.
We can prepare a licence application for you for a fixed fee; the council's own fee is separate. See pricing for what is included and how we make money. You can also run a full address check on the postcode checker.
We found no selective licensing scheme on Watford Borough Council's website as of 28 Sep 2026. Mandatory HMO licensing still applies to 5+ people in 2+ households. Confirm with the council.
We did not find a published fee on the council pages we checked. Mandatory HMO licence fees are set by each council, usually in two parts (application and grant). See the council page or our HMO licence cost guide.
Watford does not publish Article 4 data to the national planning data platform, so we cannot tell you from official data whether an HMO Article 4 direction applies. Absence of data is not absence of a direction: check the council's planning pages.
The council publishes its public register of licences here: Watford Borough Council register. Councils must keep a register of licences under section 232 of the Housing Act 2004.
The First-tier Tribunal has published 2 rent repayment order decisions for properties in Watford (2 with an order made), median award £4,520, and 0 civil penalty appeals. Most penalties are never appealed, so the true number of fines is higher.
Related: selective licensing in England · additional HMO licensing · HMO licence cost · HMO rules · HMO hub
Last checked 28 Sep 2026. Information, not legal advice. Licensing schemes change often; always confirm with the council before you act.