Selective Licensing in Barking and Dagenham

Barking and Dagenham is going back to full borough-wide selective licensing from 6 April 2025, on top of mandatory and additional HMO licensing, with some of the toughest enforcement powers in the country under the Renters' Rights Act.

Scheme status, scope, dates

• Old scheme: Borough-wide selective licensing ran for ten years then lapsed in summer 2024.
• New scheme:
• Name: London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Designations for Areas for Selective Licensing 2024.
• Start: 6 April 2025.
• End: 5 April 2030 (5-year designation).
• Scope: Borough-wide, applying to all single-family privately rented homes and 1-2-sharer lets across Barking and Dagenham, except where an HMO licence applies or a statutory exemption exists.

A separate additional HMO licensing scheme also starts in 2025, covering most smaller HMOs not under mandatory licensing.

Fees (2025-30)

Council and independent guides line up on headline costs:

Selective licence (single-family / up to 2 sharers):

• Part A: GBP 650.
• Part B: GBP 300.
• Total: GBP 950 per property for up to 5 years.

Additional HMO licence (smaller HMOs):

• Part A: GBP 1,000.
• Part B: GBP 400.
• Total: GBP 1,400.

Mandatory HMO licence (5+ occupiers):

• GBP 1,500 for up to 5 habitable rooms, more if additional rooms.

Compliance discounts: Under the new scheme, properties are inspected before a licence is issued, and compliant landlords can get:

• Silver Compliance Award: GBP 200 off Part B after a satisfactory compliance inspection.
• Gold Compliance Award: For accredited landlords with a satisfactory inspection, GBP 250 off Part B.

So a fully compliant, accredited landlord can effectively reduce a selective licence from GBP 950 down to GBP 700.

Licence conditions

The selective scheme imports familiar conditions around:

Property condition and safety:

• Free from serious hazards (HHSRS).
• Working smoke and CO alarms.
• Valid gas safety certificate, EICR, EPC.

Management:

• Fit and proper person test for licence holder and manager.
• Contact details for tenants and neighbours.
• Proper arrangements for repairs, inspections, and emergency response.

Tenancy management and ASB:

• Written tenancy agreements, correct deposit protection.
• Reasonable steps to deal with antisocial behaviour.

HMO licences (mandatory and additional) add:

• Minimum bedroom sizes and amenity standards.
• Fire doors, detection and escape routes.

The council says every property requiring a licence will be inspected before a licence is issued, which is more intensive than many London schemes.

Penalties and enforcement

Barking and Dagenham was already known for hard enforcement under the old scheme; Renters' Rights Act powers now make it even harsher.

Under previous law the council:

• Fined a Dagenham landlord and agent GBP 22,000 for an unlicensed property and then obtained a GBP 14,700 Rent Repayment Order on top.
• Frequently used 12-month RROs against unlicensed landlords.

Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, implemented from 1 May 2026, Barking and Dagenham confirms:

• Rent Repayment Orders can award up to 2 years' rent to tenants or councils.
• Serious or repeated offences can attract civil penalties up to GBP 40,000.

Their "Important changes for private landlords" page names:

• Failure to licence under selective or HMO schemes.
• Breaches of licence conditions.
• Illegal evictions and harassment.

as key offences where these enhanced powers will be used.

A 2023 tribunal did criticise the council for poor support in one selective-licence case, but did not overturn the underlying licensing requirements; that is a procedural slap, not a weakening of the scheme.

Exemptions

From council and scheme documents:

Selective licensing does not apply to:

• Properties already subject to a mandatory HMO or additional HMO licence.
• Registered social landlord stock.
• Certain business tenancies and holiday lets.
• Long leaseholder-occupied dwellings.

But with borough-wide scope and two HMO schemes, the practical rule is: almost every privately rented property in Barking and Dagenham needs some form of licence.

Application process

Applications opened 9 December 2024 ahead of the 6 April 2025 go-live.

Landlords must:

• Use the council's online property-licensing portal to apply for selective, additional or mandatory HMO licences.
• Provide landlord/manager details, proof of ownership, gas/EICR/EPC and tenancy information.
• Pay Part A on application; Part B is due when the council is ready to issue the licence, after inspection and any compliance awards.

The council is explicit that operating unlicensed while "waiting to apply" is an offence, and that properties will be inspected before licences are granted.

Market impact and landlord response

From council statements, Propertymark and landlord press:

PRS scale: PRS now accounts for nearly a third of homes in Barking and Dagenham.

Outcomes under previous schemes: over 8,000 inspections under earlier borough-wide licensing revealed widespread hazards; these are cited as justification for the renewed scheme.

Investor behaviour:

• Some landlords are exiting or avoiding the borough, calling the fees "exorbitant" and objecting that every single-let needs a licence.
• Others are staying but upgrading stock to secure Silver/Gold compliance discounts, treating GBP ~700-950 per property every 5 years as a cost of doing business in an outer-London growth borough.

Influence on other councils: Barking and Dagenham is one of the first to use the December 2024 "general approval" that lets councils introduce schemes covering more than 20% of their area without Secretary of State sign-off. Its model of borough-wide selective licensing plus borough-wide additional HMO licensing, with compliance-linked discounts, is already being cited as a template by other London and provincial councils.

What forums get wrong about Barking and Dagenham

Myth 1: "The old selective scheme ended in 2024; there's nothing in place now."

Reality: A new borough-wide selective scheme starts 6 April 2025 - 5 April 2030, replacing the old one and again covering most privately rented properties across the borough.

Myth 2: "Only HMOs need licences; my single-family let is exempt."

Reality: From 6 April 2025 every single-family rental and 1-2-sharer let in Barking and Dagenham needs either a selective licence (GBP 950) or an HMO licence. HMO-licensed properties are exempt from selective only because they already pay under a different part of the regime.

Myth 3: "Fees are small and enforcement is soft."

Reality: Selective licences are GBP 950, additional HMOs GBP 1,400, mandatory HMOs from GBP 1,500, and under Renters' Rights Act the council can seek RROs up to 2 years' rent and civil penalties up to GBP 40,000 for serious or repeated offences.

Myth 4: "If my agent forgets to apply, I can just say it was a mistake."

Reality: Case law and new RRO guidance treat failure to licence as a strict-liability offence: if the property was unlicensed when the law required it, you are guilty regardless of what your agent did or did not do.

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