HMO licensing in Liverpool

Which licences a rented house needs in Liverpool, and where. England. Checked 7 September 2026.

Liverpool runs selective licensing on top of mandatory licensing.

Mandatory HMO licence: 5 or more people forming 2 or more households sharing facilities.

Additional licensing

Extends HMO licensing to smaller HMOs (typically 3 or 4 people) in a designated area.

None found

Council 'check if you need a licence' page lists only mandatory HMO licensing and selective licensing; no additional scheme

Selective licensing

Every privately rented home in a designated area needs a licence, HMO or not.

StatusIn forceWherenamed areas: designated wards across the city (ward list not on pages read)

In force; council is consulting on a proposed new selective licensing scheme. Search snippet says current scheme runs April 2022 to March 2027, not verified on fetched pages (scheme page fetch failed with ECONNRESET)

Council HMO page · Council Article 4 page · HMO Article 4 in Liverpool

Check an exact postcode for Article 4

Is a postcode inside an HMO Article 4 area?

See this on every listing.Kerbio puts the Article 4 answer, licensing, the council's HMO register and sold prices on the Rightmove, Zoopla or OnTheMarket page itself. Free for 7 days, then £39 a month.

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Sources: Liverpool council, gov.uk HMO licensing. Schemes change; confirm with the council before you offer.