Southampton City Council (Portswood) landlord licensing 2026

In force here

Licensing in Southampton City Council (Portswood)

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 runs from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2030 and covers smaller HMOs, those with fewer than five occupants, in nine wards: Banister and Polygon, Bargate, Bassett, Bevois, Freemantle, Millbrook, Portswood, Shirley and Swaythling
An Article 4 direction has covered the whole city since 23 March 2012, so turning a family home into a small HMO needs planning permission before the licence question arises
Properties caught by that designation had to apply within three months of the scheme starting on 1 October 2025
Mandatory HMO licensing applies across the city to five or more occupants in more than one household who share a toilet, bathroom or kitchen
A purpose-built flat with five or more occupants in a block of three or more self-contained flats sits outside mandatory licensing, but can be caught by the additional scheme
Operating a licensable HMO without a licence is a criminal offence and the council says landlords can be heavily fined by the courts

Licence fees

What a licence costs in Southampton

Southampton’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
£9535-year licence
Stage one £300 with the application, which is not refunded, and stage two £653 within 14 days of the licence being issued. There is a cheaper route: use one of the council’s approved independent HMO surveyors, who supplies a compliance certificate and floor plan, and the fee drops to £636, though you pay the surveyor separately. Leave it more than three months after the property becomes licensable and it is £1,618. Council fees from 1 October 2025.
The council’s fee page
Additional HMO
£9535-year licence
The council publishes one fee scale for HMO licences, so an additional licence costs the same £953, or £636 through an approved surveyor. The scheme runs from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2030, and a licence lasts five years or until the scheme ends. It catches purpose-built flats with five or more occupants in a block of three or more self-contained flats, which fall outside mandatory licensing.
The council’s fee page

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

If Southampton 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 13 electoral wards between them. One of them crosses a council boundary (SO16 into Test Valley), and nothing Southampton 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.

SO17Portswood, Highfield, Swaythling, Bevois edge
Wards it touches: Banister & Polygon, Bassett, Bevois, Freemantle, Portswood and Swaythling.
SO14City centre, Bevois Valley, Newtown, Bargate, Bitterne Park edge
Wards it touches: Banister & Polygon, Bargate, Bevois, Bitterne Park and Portswood.
SO15Freemantle, Shirley, Banister Park, Millbrook, Redbridge edge
Wards it touches: Banister & Polygon, Bargate, Bassett, Freemantle, Millbrook, Redbridge and Shirley.
SO16Bassett, Coxford, Lordswood, Millbrook edge
Wards it touches: Bassett, Chilworth, Nursling & Rownhams, Coxford, Freemantle, Millbrook, Portswood, Redbridge, Shirley and Swaythling.
Part of SO16 lies in Test Valley, where Southampton’s schemes do not apply.

Local rents

What lets for in Southampton

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

Average rent: £1,257per month, all sizes
1-bed / 2-bed: £881 · £1,114per month
3-bed: £1,357per month
Change in a year: +3.4%to August 2026

For Southampton as a whole, the average private rent of £1,257 a month is £169 less than the South East average of £1,426, and the 18th lowest of the 64 councils in the South East that ONS publishes. Over the year to August 2026 it rose 3.4%, against a rise of 3.0% across the South East.

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

Local figures

Renting in Southampton: the official numbers

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

Section 21 claims: 27accelerated possession claims, April to June 2026, down 7% on a year earlier (29)
Rent repayment orders: 1made in 3 published decisions since January 2025, £3,456 ordered in all
Rent challenges: 15rent increases decided by the tribunal since January 2025, 6 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 Portswood must register

Portswood is in the South East region. Registration becomes required there on 15 March 2027, and the deadline is 14 June 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 South East.

Opens to everyone
15 December 2026
Any property can be registered early, wherever it is.
Required in South East
15 March 2027
The three-month window to register starts.
Deadline
14 June 2027
After this date the council can take enforcement action.

The fee is £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 March 2027.

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 South East dates
An email the day registration becomes required, then 30 and 7 days before 14 Jun 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.
Southampton City Council (Portswood) 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

Southampton City Council (Portswood): the questions landlords ask

Which Southampton wards need an additional HMO licence?

Banister and Polygon, Bargate, Bassett, Bevois, Freemantle, Millbrook, Portswood, Shirley and Swaythling. In those wards an HMO with fewer than five occupants needs a licence under the scheme running to 30 September 2030.

Does a purpose-built flat in Southampton need an HMO licence?

A purpose-built flat with five or more occupants in a block of three or more self-contained flats is outside mandatory licensing, but it may still need a licence under the additional scheme if it is in one of the nine designated wards.

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

Portswood is in the South East region. Registration becomes required there on 15 March 2027, and the deadline is 14 June 2027. Any property can be registered earlier, from 15 December 2026. 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 Portswood 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 South East 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.

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