Propertymark has called for councils to publish five-year cost plans for landlord licensing schemes after warning that fees in some areas now exceed £1,000 per property.
The trade body issued the recommendation in a position paper published on 23 September, arguing that landlords and agents need to see how licence income is allocated between administration, inspections, enforcement, IT and legal work.
That request arrives as local schemes continue to expand and as Croydon’s new selective and additional HMO regimes are due to begin on 25 September. Owners facing a licence application need to budget for the stated fee and compliance work, but should also check exactly what scheme applies to their address and property type.
Propertymark wants five-year licensing cost plans
Propertymark supports action against unsafe and poorly managed homes, but says discretionary licensing can become a broad administrative burden when compliant landlords and agents must repeatedly submit documents that councils already hold or can obtain through existing powers.
Its paper asks authorities to publish the total projected cost of each scheme across its full five-year term, alongside annual figures on inspections, enforcement, officer capacity and civil-penalty collection. It also says councils should show how far licence income funds property inspections rather than paperwork.
The intervention is not a change in the law, and it does not alter any existing designation or licence fee. It is a call from a property-agent body for clearer evidence and reporting before schemes are renewed or widened.
Existing powers remain central to the argument
Propertymark points to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, improvement notices, prohibition orders, civil penalties, banning orders and rent repayment orders as tools councils can already use against unsafe or poorly managed homes. Its argument is that an authority should show why a blanket licensing scheme adds more than those measures can deliver.
The body also says environmental health teams can be stretched by application processing, potentially leaving enforcement reactive and complaint-led. That is a policy judgment rather than a finding about every council, but it sets a clear test for future consultation responses: what inspection and enforcement outcome will the fee actually buy?
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s report on licence fees reaching £2,167 in some areas, which showed how local charges can diverge sharply. Landlord Knowledge’s September coverage of Croydon’s revised start date also highlighted the importance of checking a scheme’s live commencement notice rather than relying on an earlier timetable.
National register could change local administration
Propertymark says England’s forthcoming rental property register should become the main source of core landlord, property and compliance information for councils. It argues that local licence fees should then reflect the cost of inspections and enforcement rather than repeated data entry and document storage.
That is a recommendation, not a confirmed operating rule for the register. Landlords should therefore continue to follow the instructions of any local scheme in force and not assume a national registration will replace a council licence. The detailed proposals are set out in Propertymark’s licensing position paper.
What this means for landlords
- If a scheme covers your property: check the designation boundary, property type, application deadline and published fee directly with the council.
- Watch for: consultation documents and annual scheme reports that show inspection capacity, enforcement activity and how licence income is allocated.
- Bottom line: Propertymark’s paper does not change current obligations, but it adds pressure for clearer evidence behind high local licence fees.
Editor’s view
Licensing can only retain credibility when the charge, the inspection effort and the enforcement result can be followed from start to finish. A fee alone tells landlords what they must pay, not whether the scheme is focused on the homes that need intervention most.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 23 September 2026
Sources: Propertymark licensing position paper
Related reading: Landlord licensing fees hit £2,167 as councils widen schemes
