HMO Inspections · Westminster
HMO inspections and compliance assessments in the City of Westminster.
Westminster licenses far more of its rented housing than most landlords assume. Additional HMO licensing has applied borough-wide since 2021, reaching three-person shares that would not need a licence in most of England.
- Qualified Environmental Health Officer — not a general surveyor
- 24 years' front-line housing enforcement
- 6,000+ property inspections
- Reports typically within ten working days
Which licence applies in Westminster
A licence requirement depends on how many people occupy the property and how many households they form — not on what the property looks like. Westminster City Council currently operates the following.
- Additional HMO licence (3 or more people, 2 or more households) — Borough-wide since 30 August 2021 and since renewed. Covers properties sharing a kitchen, bathroom or similar facility — including some purpose-built blocks, certain hostels and staff accommodation, and converted flats that are not fully self-contained.
- Mandatory HMO licence (5 or more people, 2 or more households) — The national scheme under the Housing Act 2004, in force since 2006. Applies in addition to the borough scheme, not instead of it.
- Selective property licence (Single household lets in 15 wards) — Westminster's selective scheme began on 24 November 2025 and reaches ordinary family lets in the designated wards — properties that would never need an HMO licence. Check whether your postcode falls inside the designation.
Source: Westminster City Council — HMO licensing — checked October 2026. Licensing designations change; confirm your property's position before relying on this.
Penalties in Westminster
- Up to £30,000 — Civil penalty for operating or managing a licensable HMO without a licence, or for breaching licence conditions.
- Unlimited fine — On conviction in the magistrates' court for the same offences.
- Up to 12 months' rent — Westminster's guidance notes tenants may be able to recover rent where no licence was obtained.
What catches Westminster landlords out
Three sharers is a licensable HMO here
A large share of Westminster's rented stock is flats above commercial premises and converted period buildings let room-by-room. Three unrelated tenants in one of those is licensable, and it is exactly the property type that gets missed because the landlord thinks of it as "a flat", not an HMO.
Licence conditions, not just the regulations
Westminster attaches conditions covering fire precautions, amenity standards and management arrangements. An inspection checks the property against the conditions actually attached to your licence — the place where most compliance gaps sit — rather than only the baseline regulations.
Houses converted into flats
Where a house has been split into flats that are not fully self-contained, or where the conversion does not meet the relevant building standards, licensing obligations can apply to the building as a whole. It is one of the areas most often assessed wrongly by owners.
Who carries out the inspection
Liam McIntyre, BSc (Hons), LLB (Hons), MCIEH — a qualified Environmental Health Officer and Member of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, with 24 years' front-line housing enforcement and in excess of 6,000 property inspections.
Liam McIntyre spent part of his 24 years of front-line enforcement at Westminster City Council, so the inspection is carried out against the standards this borough actually applies.
Genuinely independent — no remedial works are sold and no fee depends on the findings.
Related pages
HMO inspection scope and turnaround: HMO inspections · other boroughs: HMO inspections by borough · licensing strategy and tribunal work: landlord services · litigation: expert witness.
Book an HMO inspection in Westminster
Email or WhatsApp with the property's size, occupancy and postcode and you will have a fixed fee the same working day.
Email: liam@mcintyre-property-compliance.co.uk · Phone / WhatsApp: 07527 317311