Selective Licensing in Southampton

Southampton is currently HMO-heavy but selective-light: as at April 2026 you have mandatory HMO licensing, a new borough-wide additional HMO licensing scheme in high-density wards from autumn 2025, but no selective licensing scheme in force yet.

Current licensing picture (no selective scheme yet)

Selective licensing: There is no adopted selective licensing scheme in Southampton as of April 2026.

NRLA and local updates talk about selective licensing in other councils in 2025, but for Southampton they only reference consultations on additional HMO licensing, not a confirmed selective designation.

Mandatory HMO licensing: Standard national position: any HMO with 5 or more people in 2+ households sharing facilities must have a licence. Fee guidance shows Southampton's mandatory HMO licence is around GBP 716 for a 5-year term (2025-26 rates).

Additional HMO licensing (new scheme):

Previous additional schemes in Bevois, Bargate, Portswood, Swaythling expired 30 September 2023.

In late 2024 Southampton consulted on a new additional scheme for smaller HMOs.

The approved scheme (confirmed by iHowz / HMO Architects) starts 1 September 2025 and covers HMOs with 3-4 occupants in nine wards:

• Banister and Polygon, Bargate, Bassett, Bevois, Freemantle, Millbrook, Portswood, Shirley, Swaythling.

PBSA is also pulled into licensing under this additional scheme, even though it sits outside mandatory HMO licensing.

So right now Southampton is:

• HMO-licence heavy in those nine wards (3+ sharers).
• Still no selective licensing for vanilla single-lets anywhere in the city.

Fees, conditions, penalties (HMO schemes)

Even though this page is about selective licensing, you need the HMO numbers because that is what actually exists.

Mandatory HMO licence (5+ occupiers): Approx GBP 716 fee (5 years) based on South East fee tables.

Additional HMO licence (3-4 occupiers in the 9 wards): Southampton is consulting/has consulted on fees; the HMO-Architects and iHowz summaries point to a similar banding to mandatory with possible uplifts for additional admin and PBSA.

Conditions and enforcement (HMO):

Property standards: meet Southampton-specific HMO standards for:

• Fire safety (alarms, fire doors, escape routes).
• Room sizes (aligned with national minimums: 6.51 sq m single, 10.22 sq m double).
• Amenities (kitchen and bathroom ratios).

Enforcement tools include:

• Civil penalties up to GBP 30,000 or prosecution with unlimited fine for operating without a licence or breaching conditions.
• Rent Repayment Orders up to 12 months' rent for failing to licence.
• Inability to serve a Section 21 while unlicensed.

Southampton explicitly wants additional licensing so it can move from reactive to proactive inspection of smaller HMOs in those wards.

Interaction with the student PRS and local market

Student drivers: University of Southampton and Solent University create big HMO demand in Portswood, Swaythling, Bevois, Banister and Polygon, which is exactly where the new additional scheme sits.

Market impact: The council's rationale: previous additional schemes reached compliance rates around 85%; after they lapsed, complaints rose and landlord behaviour slipped.

New borough-wide-style scheme in the nine wards is designed to:

• Reduce complaints.
• Get routine checks back in place.
• Manage HMO density in student-heavy streets.

For you, this means higher compliance cost and more inspections, but a more predictable regulatory environment in those HMO belts.

Investor response in landlord media: Many guides now list Southampton as an HMO-regulation city rather than an easy student play, but investors still like it because:

• Student demand is strong and year-round.
• Fees are lower than Oxford/Bristol/Brighton.

What forums get wrong about Southampton (2026)

Myth 1: "Southampton has city-wide selective licensing now."

Reality: As of April 2026, no selective licensing scheme is in force in Southampton. The council has introduced and consulted on additional HMO licensing, not selective licensing for single-lets.

Myth 2: "Additional licensing ended in 2023; 3-4-bed HMOs are licence-free again."

Reality: The older Bevois/Bargate/Portswood/Swaythling schemes ended in September 2023, but a new additional HMO scheme starts 1 September 2025 in nine wards (Banister and Polygon, Bargate, Bassett, Bevois, Freemantle, Millbrook, Portswood, Shirley, Swaythling). Smaller HMOs in these wards will need licences again.

Myth 3: "PBSA is outside all this, so uni blocks don't matter."

Reality: Purpose-built student accommodation is now explicitly pulled under the new additional HMO scheme, so big blocks will be licensed and scrutinised too.

Myth 4: "Because there's no selective licensing, Southampton is low-regulation compared with other student cities."

Reality: You still have:

• Mandatory HMO licensing across the city.
• Additional licensing for 3-4 occupiers in nine key wards.
• Strong HMO standards and penalties up to GBP 30,000 per offence, plus RROs and loss of Section 21.

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