Coventry City Council (Earlsdon) landlord licensing 2026

In force here

Licensing in Coventry City Council (Earlsdon)

Schemes are designated for a fixed period and are redesignated, widened or dropped. Treat this as the shape of the local regime and confirm the current designation on the council’s own licensing page before you let.

Additional HMO licensing covers the whole city: the designation was extended on 7 October 2024 and came into effect across Coventry on 4 May 2025
An Article 4 direction in force since 30 September 2023 covers 11 wards, Earlsdon among them: Cheylesmore, Earlsdon, Foleshill, Lower Stoke, Radford, St Michael’s, Sherbourne, Upper Stoke, Wainbody, Westwood and Whoberley. Turning a home into an HMO there needs planning permission, however few the tenants
Mandatory HMO licensing applies to five or more occupants forming two or more households
Selective licensing was consulted on in 2019; Cabinet and Full Council approved a recommendation not to progress it, so an ordinary family let does not need a licence
Licence conditions cover gas and electrical certification and health and safety standards, with discretionary conditions on anti-social behaviour and management

Licence fees

What a licence costs in Coventry

Coventry’s own published figures, read from its fee pages and reviewed on 20 September 2026. Councils reprice their fees, so the council page linked on each row is the live figure.

Mandatory HMO
£1,5715-year licence
Standard new application, in two stages: £716 with the application and £855 on grant. An HMO found operating unlicensed for more than 12 weeks pays the higher rate, £2,241 for a one-year licence.
The council’s fee page
Additional HMO
£1,5715-year licence
Same two-stage scale as the mandatory licence, £716 then £855. The citywide additional scheme has been live since 4 May 2025, so small HMOs of 3 to 4 people, or without shared amenities, need a licence too.
The council’s fee page

The Coventry licence fees page explains which licence a property needs and how each fee is paid.

If Coventry licenses your house as an HMO, keep the licence with the let.

LetCompliance holds it on the property beside the tenancy and the rent: the type, the council’s reference, the dates and how many people it allows. It emails you 90, 30 and 7 days before the licence runs out, and warns you if a tenant moving in would put more people in the property than the licence permits.

How it runs a shared house Start with a 3-day trial, no cardPlans from £7.99 a month

Wards and postcodes

What each postcode here covers, ward by ward

The four outward codes on this guide touch 23 electoral wards between them. Three of them cross a council boundary (CV5 into Solihull; CV3 into Rugby and Warwick; CV6 into Nuneaton and Bedworth), and nothing Coventry designates applies on the far side of it. Wards from the ONS postcode directory, checked 18 September 2026. Designations follow ward and sometimes street boundaries, so knowing the ward narrows it down; the council’s own designation is the answer for the address.

CV5Earlsdon, Chapelfields, Whoberley, Tile Hill and Canley, Bablake
Wards it touches: Bablake, Binley & Willenhall, Earlsdon, Meriden & Arden, Sherbourne, Tile Hill & Canley, Whoberley and Woodlands.
Part of CV5 lies in Solihull, where Coventry’s schemes do not apply.
CV1City centre, Hillfields, St Michael’s, Radford edge
Wards it touches: Binley & Willenhall, Cheylesmore, Earlsdon, Foleshill, Radford, Sherbourne, St Michael’s and Whoberley.
CV3Cheylesmore, Stoke Aldermoor, Binley and Willenhall, Wainbody
Wards it touches: Binley & Willenhall, Cheylesmore, Cubbington & Leek Wootton, Earlsdon, Lower Stoke, Revel and Binley Woods, St Michael’s, Upper Stoke, Wainbody, Wolston and the Lawfords and Wyken.
Part of CV3 lies in Rugby and Warwick, where Coventry’s schemes do not apply.
CV6Radford, Foleshill, Holbrooks, Longford
Wards it touches: Bablake, Exhall, Foleshill, Holbrooks, Longford, Poplar, Radford, Sherbourne and Upper Stoke.
Part of CV6 lies in Nuneaton and Bedworth, where Coventry’s schemes do not apply.

Local rents

What lets for in Coventry

Office for National Statistics, August 2026 (released 16 September 2026): the average private rent on new and existing tenancies. For Coventry as a whole: ONS publishes nothing for a single ward. A council average is not the market rent of a particular home.

Average rent: £1,020per month, all sizes
1-bed / 2-bed: £759 · £913per month
3-bed: £1,066per month
Change in a year: +2.4%to August 2026

For Coventry as a whole, the average private rent of £1,020 a month is £38 more than the West Midlands average of £982, and the 7th highest of the 30 councils in the West Midlands that ONS publishes. Over the year to August 2026 it rose 2.4%, against a rise of 4.9% across the West Midlands.

Every council in England is on the UK rent statistics page, with the national and regional averages.

Local figures

Renting in Coventry: the official numbers

Counted from official sources on 6 October 2026. These are for Coventry as a whole: none are published for a single ward.

Section 21 claims: 58accelerated possession claims, April to June 2026, up 57% on a year earlier (37)
Rent repayment orders: 0no published tribunal decisions since January 2025
Rent challenges: 9rent increases decided by the tribunal since January 2025, 5 of them since 1 May 2026

Sources: ONS Price Index of Private Rents (released 16 September 2026); Ministry of Justice possession statistics, April to June 2026, by the council of the defendant’s address; residential property tribunal decisions published on GOV.UK, by the council in the case reference. How each was counted: Section 21 claims, rent repayment orders, rent challenges and rents by council.

PRS Database

When landlords in Earlsdon must register

Earlsdon is in the West Midlands region. Registration opens and becomes required there on 15 December 2026, and the deadline is 14 March 2027. Every let home in England goes on the new Private Rented Sector Database, and the date is set by where the property is, not where you live. Everything for the West Midlands.

Opens and required
15 December 2026
West Midlands is the first region: registration is required from the day the service opens.
Deadline
14 March 2027
After this date the council can take enforcement action.
Fee
£65 a year
For each property, pro-rated during the rollout.

Miss the deadline and the council can impose a penalty of up to £7,000. While a let that should be registered is not, a court cannot make a possession order for it, except on the antisocial behaviour Grounds 7A and 14 (Renters’ Rights Act 2025, section 90). Dates from the GOV.UK Housing Hub, checked 23 September 2026.

Get ready in LetCompliance

Seventeen answers a property. Have them on one page before 15 December 2026.

The register asks the same 17 things about every home you let, from the number of households to copies of the gas safety record, the EICR and the EPC. LetCompliance builds a register pack for each property from the records you keep in it: what is ready, what is missing, and the certificate files to upload. Registering becomes copying from one page.

A register pack for every property
All 17 items, most of them filled in from the tenancy, rent, licence and certificate records you already keep.
The gaps, said plainly
Each gap links to the page where you fill it in, so they are closed weeks ahead, not on the deadline.
Reminders on the West Midlands dates
An email the day registration becomes required, then 30 and 7 days before 14 Mar 2027, for every property not yet marked registered.

Get your register pack Check your readiness first

Included on every plan.

Check your address

Three steps before you let the property

Designations are drawn by ward and sometimes by street, so the only answer that counts is the one for your address.

Check the address on the council’s own licensing pages
It is the only source that is definitive for this borough, and it is the one the council will hold you to.
Coventry City Council (Earlsdon) licensing
Check the property against the national thresholds
Mandatory HMO licensing is national, not local: five or more occupants forming two or more households need a licence wherever the property is, with no local scheme required.
Free postcode licensing checker
Get the evidence together before you apply
Most applications ask for the same documents you already owe the tenant: the gas safety record, the EICR, the EPC, and the fire detection and escape arrangements for an HMO. The council’s list is the one that counts, but nothing on it will be a surprise if those are current.

National duties

The duties that apply here whatever the council does

A licence sits on top of these, it does not replace them. Renewal cycles and maximum penalties are the same in every England council area.

Duty	Renewal	Maximum penalty
Gas SafetyGas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998	Every 12 months	Unlimited fine + up to 2 years in prison
EICRElectrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020	Every 5 years	£40,000 per property
EPCEnergy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015	Every 10 years / on new tenancy	£5,000 per property
DepositHousing Act 2004, as amended by the Localism Act 2011	30 days from receipt	1-3× deposit as damages
Right to RentImmigration Act 2014, amended by Immigration Act 2016	Before tenancy starts	Up to £20,000 per occupant
Section 8Housing Act 1988, s.8 (as amended by Renters’ Rights Act 2025)	When seeking possession	Possession refused if compliance missing
RRA 2025Renters' Rights Act 2025 (Royal Assent 27 Oct 2025; principal commencement 1 May 2026)	Phase-in from 1 May 2026	£7,000 → £40,000 (serious/repeat) + unlimited criminal

Each row links to the full duty: what it obliges you to do, what happens when it is missed and the practical way to stay on top of it. Read the national guide.

If you get it wrong

What letting without a licence costs

These are statutory, not local. A council that has designated a scheme can use all three, and a tenant can bring the second one without the council being involved at all.

Civil penalty: Up to £40,000Imposed by the council itself, without a prosecution. Serious or repeated breaches sit at the top of the range.
Rent Repayment Order: Up to 2 years’ rentThe tenant, or the council, applies to the First-tier Tribunal to have rent paid back. It is separate from the penalty above, not instead of it.
Prosecution: Unlimited fineLetting an unlicensed HMO, or breaching a licence condition, is a criminal offence and can be prosecuted rather than penalised.

FAQs

Coventry City Council (Earlsdon): the questions landlords ask

Does a 3-person house share in Coventry need a licence?

Yes. The city-wide additional licensing designation in force from 4 May 2025 covers HMOs that fall outside the mandatory definition, which includes three and four person shares.

Is there selective licensing in Coventry?

No. The council consulted on a selective licensing scheme in 2019 and decided not to progress it, so a property let to a single household does not need a licence.

When do landlords in Earlsdon have to register on the PRS Database?

Earlsdon is in the West Midlands region. Registration opens and becomes required there on 15 December 2026, and the deadline is 14 March 2027. The fee is £65 a year for each property, and the date follows where the property is, not where the landlord lives. While a let that should be registered is not, a court cannot make a possession order for it, except on the antisocial behaviour grounds.

Reviewed by Erdem Volkan, last checked 15 October 2026. General information about the rules in this area, not advice on a specific property or dispute.

Run a let through it

Every Earlsdon let from one login

LetCompliance is landlord software that runs the advert, the tenancy, rent by Direct Debit with no commission and the repairs, and keeps the West Midlands register deadline, licence renewals, the gas and electrical certificates, the deposit clock and the notices on the same property. Plans from £7.99 a month, with a 3-day trial and no card.

Get started, from £7.99 a month See everything it does