Discretionary Licensing in the Private Rented Sector

On 17 November 2025 the Council made a designation, that the whole of the Reading Borough Council area will have an additional hmo licensing scheme in force from 1 March 2026. A copy of the designation and the publication notice which will appear in the local press is at the foot of this page.

Subject to the exemptions set out in the designation and any further exemptions specified in law, every house in multiple occupation in the district of the Borough of Reading shall be required to be licensed under section 61 of the Act, once the designation comes into force: 

The designation applies to all properties, including flats, which are occupied by 3 or more persons comprising of 2 or more households, which forms a house in multiple occupation. This includes student properties and similar shared accommodation as well as bedsits and other properties occupied by people who are not related. This is irrespective of the number of storeys, so includes single storey flats and two, three or more storey properties. 

The following properties are excluded:

Properties subject to schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004, buildings that are not HMOs for the purposes of the Act.  

Properties subject to mandatory licensing under section 55(2)(a) of the Housing Act 2004. 

Properties where a temporary exemption notice is in force in relation to it under the Housing Act 2004 – section 62 or an interim or final management order is in force in relation to it under the Housing Act 2004 Chapter 1 of Part 4. 

Buildings or parts of buildings which are converted block of flats to which section 257 applies (flats converted pre 1991 without building control approval) are not subject to the designation. However please note that individual flats or parts of the building are subject to the designation and so individual flats which are occupied by more than one household do require a licence unless one of the exemptions applies.

Houses and flats occupied by a single household (which usually means a single family) do not require a licence under the scheme. We propose to introduce licensing of single family rented homes in later phases, starting with Battle Ward (see proposals in the earlies phases of this consultation). This will be subject to a separate designation in due course.

Once the designation is in force an application for a licence must be made to the local housing authority under section 63 of the Act, made in accordance with such requirements as the Council may specify and accompanied by a fee fixed by the Council. 

Next steps

We are in the process of appointing a delivery partner who will assist us in setting up launch events, taking applications and completing inspections.

Please do not complete an application at this stage. A new website will be setup to take applications under the new scheme, you will not be able to use our existing application portal.

In the meantime updated amenity standards have been published on this page.

Thank you to everyone who responded to the consultation.