North East

HMO licensing in Stockton-on-Tees

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council requires a mandatory licence for HMOs occupied by 5 or more people from 2 or more households. It also runs selective licensing in designated areas, covering privately rented homes that are not licensable HMOs. The published licence fee starts at £1,250.

Mandatory licence

5+ people, 2+ households

National scheme

Additional / selective

Selective

Council-designated schemes

Licence fee

From £1,250

Decision time

Not published

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Licensing schemes in Stockton-on-Tees

In force

Selective licensing

Selective licensing applies to every privately rented property in three designated areas: Central Stockton, North Thornaby and Newtown. The scheme was approved by Cabinet on 16 May 2024, started on 1 November 2024 and runs for 5 years (to 31 October 2029). No additional HMO licensing scheme is in force; mandatory HMO licensing applies as normal.

In force from: 1 November 2024
Scheme ends: 31 October 2029

Council source

Verified 24 September 2026

Licence fees

The published fee for a new HMO licence is £1,250, and £1,250 to renew. Fees can depend on the number of occupants or lettings, and they are reviewed each year.

Stockton charges a flat £250 per unit of accommodation (a bedsit room, self-contained flat, or bedroom in a shared house/flat) for a new application, renewal, or adding units to an existing licence — there is no single fixed total, it scales directly with the number of lettable units. Members of the council's Landlord Accreditation Scheme get a £50-per-unit discount (£200/unit). Adding an owner to an existing property (licence holder unchanged) costs a flat £50. The application fee is non-refundable once paid. Figures below show a representative 5-unit HMO as an example.

Check the current fee on the council website (stockton.gov.uk) before you apply.

Additional and selective licence fees

Fees for council-designated schemes are set separately from the mandatory HMO fee. Figures are the standard full-rate fee for a new licence, before any discounts.

Selective licence

£653

Standard selective licence for a single privately rented property in Central Stockton, North Thornaby or Newtown: £178 application fee plus £95 annual fee for each of the 5 years of the scheme (council states a standard application per property is £653). Late applications (over 28 days after the property becomes licensable) pay a £278 application fee, £753 in total.

£50 per property off the annual fee for accredited landlords (council Landlord Accreditation Scheme, PLuSS, NRLA or BLA members) at time of application; £75 per property off the annual fee for those who were council-accreditation or full PLuSS members as at 31 May 2024 (the £50 and £75 discounts are not cumulative); £25 per property off the application fee for the second and subsequent properties of a landlord with 2 or more properties.

Scheme: From 1 November 2024 to 31 October 2029

Checked 2 October 2026 against stockton.gov.uk

Minimum room sizes

Single bedroom (shared house, Category B)	6.51 m² minimum floor area for one person, per Stockton's own HMO Amenity Standard Guidance.
Double bedroom (shared house, Category B)	10.22 m² minimum floor area for two people (same source).

National minimums for licensed HMOs are 6.51 m² for one adult and 10.22 m² for two adults; councils can apply higher local standards.

Fire safety requirements

Every licensed HMO must have a fire detection and alarm system, fire doors, and means of escape appropriate to the property's size and layout, assessed at inspection against the council's HMO fire safety guidance and national LACORS guidance.
A current fire risk assessment, gas safety certificate (where applicable) and electrical safety certificate are required as part of every licence application.
As with all licensed HMOs nationally, a working smoke alarm is a mandatory condition on every storey used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm is required in any room with a fixed combustion appliance.

Kitchen, bathroom and amenity standards

Shared kitchens scale by occupant count: 7.0 m² for up to 5 sharers, rising to 8.5 m² (6), 10.0 m² (7), 11.5 m² (8), 13.0 m² (9) and 14.0 m² (10) — a kitchen may not be shared by more than 10 people without written council permission.
Shared lounges (where provided) scale from 11.0 m² for up to 5 users, adding roughly 1.5 m² per extra user up to 18.5 m² at 10 users; must have adequate seating, a coffee table and a TV (with a valid TV licence).
Dining rooms follow the same scale as kitchens (7.0-14.0 m² for 5-10 users) with sufficient tables/chairs for all users.
Combined kitchen/dining rooms: 11.5 m² (up to 5 users) rising to 16.5 m² (10 users); combined lounge/dining rooms: 18.0 m² (up to 5) rising to 28.0 m² (10) — larger because they must accommodate both functions at once.
These are locally-adopted minimums under Stockton's own HMO Amenity Standard Guidance (Housing Act 2004 s.65), applied on top of the 2006 Licensing and Management Regulations' national standards.

Documents you will need

Gas safety certificate (CP12) — Current, where the property has a gas supply.
EICR — Valid Electrical Installation Condition Report.
EPC — Valid Energy Performance Certificate meeting the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES).
Fire risk assessment — Current assessment of the property's means of escape, detection and fire precautions.
Floor plan — Showing room layout and dimensions against the amenity standard minimums.

Sources

Compiled from the council’s own published pages and documents; data reviewed September 2026. Rules and fees change, so always confirm with Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council before applying. This is general information, not legal advice.