HMO licence plans for Barking and Dagenham, where the additional scheme is new
Barking and Dagenham launched an additional HMO licensing scheme on 9 January 2025, so a house shared by three or four people from two or more households now needs a licence as well as the larger ones. The council scores landlords on compliance, and tidy plans help. We draw the scaled plans and room schedule for a fixed £495.
Fixed fee from £495 · all prices
Prefer to talk it through?
What changed in January 2025
The council's do I need a licence page says the additional HMO scheme was launched on 9 January 2025 and will run for five years. It covers an HMO occupied by three or four people forming two or more households, where the property is not already under mandatory licensing, which applies from five people.
The same page says a selective licensing scheme starts on 6 April 2025 across three targeted designation areas in the borough. So a landlord in Barking or Dagenham may be looking at a selective licence, an additional licence or a mandatory one depending on the street and the tenancy, and only the second and third are decided by the layout of the house.
HMO Licence Plans in Barking and Dagenham
from £495
Every price is the full fixed fee you pay. No VAT is charged. Council application fees are paid to the council separately.
What you get
- Scaled plans of every floor with rooms labelled by use
- A schedule of bedroom areas against the national minimum room sizes
- A habitable-room count, which sets the mandatory Part B fee here
- Kitchens, bathrooms and WCs counted against tenant numbers
- A PDF pack ready for your application and later inspection
- A short note of rooms close to a minimum
- Count people and households
Three or four sharers is additional; five or more is mandatory.
- Measure the house
Areas and the habitable-room count come from the survey.
- Draw and schedule
Each floor to scale, then every bedroom set against its minimum.
- Resolve any shortfall
A small room is flagged while the layout can change.
- Apply with the council
Part A with the application, Part B before the licence is granted.
The fees, with the part that depends on rooms
On its fees page the council lists an additional HMO licence as £1,000 for Part A and £400 for Part B, and a selective licence as £650 and £300. A mandatory HMO pays a £1,000 Part A and a Part B of £500 to £1,000 that rises with habitable rooms, from up to five rooms to twenty or more.
That makes the room count a money question here, not only a layout one. The habitable-room count decides which Part B band you pay in, and measured plans fix that count.
The national conditions say a room for one person over 10 must be at least 6.51 square metres, and a room below 4.64 square metres cannot be used for sleeping.
The compliance awards
Barking and Dagenham reduces Part B for landlords who keep a good house. The fees page lists a Silver Compliance Award of £200 off Part B for a satisfactory rating at a compliance audit inspection, and a Gold award of £250 off for a landlord who is also accredited.
Plans do not earn the award, but a house that matches its plans is easier to rate satisfactorily. Bedroom areas, shared amenities and escape routes are what an inspector checks first, and our schedule lists each one.
Room sizes behind the schedule
The national conditions say a room for one person over 10 must be at least 6.51 square metres, and a room below 4.64 square metres cannot be used for sleeping. The fees page also refers to a council HMO Standards document dated January 2023, so read it alongside the plans for the local amenity standards.
We do not reproduce the council's standards here because they are the council's to set. We draw the house, and the schedule shows what each room measures.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| launched 9 January 2025 for five years | LB Barking and Dagenham, Do I need a licence?: the additional HMO scheme (source wording: "was launched on 9 January 2025 and will run for five years") | www.lbbd.gov.uk |
| three or four people in two or more households | LB Barking and Dagenham, Do I need a licence?: (source wording: "occupied by three or four people, forming two or more households"); mandatory is five or more people | www.lbbd.gov.uk |
| 6 April 2025 across three designation areas | LB Barking and Dagenham, Do I need a licence?: the selective scheme covers most privately rented properties across three targeted designation areas and starts on 6 April 2025 | www.lbbd.gov.uk |
| £1000 + £400 | LB Barking and Dagenham, Fees discounts and exemptions: additional HMO licence Part A £1,000, Part B £400 | www.lbbd.gov.uk |
| £650 + £300 | LB Barking and Dagenham, Fees discounts and exemptions: selective licence from 6 April 2025 Part A £650, Part B £300 | www.lbbd.gov.uk |
| Part B £500 to £1000 by habitable rooms | LB Barking and Dagenham, Fees discounts and exemptions: mandatory HMO Part A £1,000; Part B £500 (up to 5 habitable rooms) rising to £1,000 (20 or more) | www.lbbd.gov.uk |
| £200 Silver; £250 Gold | LB Barking and Dagenham, Fees discounts and exemptions: Silver compliance award £200 off Part B; Gold £250 off (accreditation plus satisfactory compliance audit) | www.lbbd.gov.uk |
| 6.51 square metres | Licensing and Management of HMOs (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) (England) Regulations 2018, new Sch 4 para 1A(2)(a): one person aged over 10 years (source wording: "not less than 6.51 square metres") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 4.64 square metres | Same regulations, para 1A(2)(d): a room under this size may not be used for sleeping (source wording: "less than 4.64 square metres") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
Questions people ask
Does a three-person shared house in Barking and Dagenham need a licence?
What does the additional HMO licence cost?
Is the council's fee in your price?
Do you apply for me?
Photographs: Des Blenkinsopp (CC BY-SA 2.0); Tim Green from Bradford (CC BY 2.0).
.jpg){kind=link}