Barnet
Verified local trades for Barnet
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Landlord licensing in Barnet
Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England. Barnet may also operate additional or selective licensing.
The council’s own sources disagree
Barnet's fees page lists a £774 selective licensing fee for Burnt Oak, Colindale North and Colindale South, while the council's selective licensing page states the scheme will not be implemented at this stage.
- Barnet — selective licensing
- Barnet — HMO licensing fees and charges (the selective fee is listed on this page)
Confirm with the council before you act on either.
- Selective licensing
- Sources disagree — see above. No selective licensing scheme is in force in Barnet. The council's selective licensing page (checked 21 July 2026) states: 'It has been decided that the previously agreed scheme will not be implemented at this stage given the amount of time that has elapsed since the original scheme consultation. As such we are currently reviewing our original evidence database that supported the scheme introduction and comparing it to up to date data sources. Subject to the Council's governance processes a fresh consultation exercise will potentially be completed Summer 2026.' Separately, the Property Licensing landing page carries a live banner: 'The Council is currently consulting on proposals for a licensing scheme for the private rented sector in 10 wards in the borough.' Landlords should watch this closely — a designation could follow.Coverage: None in force. A live consultation covers 10 (unnamed on the council's landing page) wards. The council's own Selective Licensing Business Case 2026 (marked DRAFT, January 2026 — a committee paper appendix hosted on the council's committee-papers platform) names 10 wards: Burnt Oak, West Hendon, Golders Green, Hendon, Cricklewood, Colindale North, Childs Hill, Friern Barnet, Finchley Church End, Colindale South. This is presumed to be the basis of the live consultation but has not been independently confirmed as the final consultation ward list — treat it as the council's own draft proposal, not a settled fact. Note that Barnet's published fee schedule still lists a selective licensing fee 'following designation - Burnt Oak, Colindale North and Colindale South' (total £774.00; Fee 1 £388.03, Fee 2 £385.97) — that is the earlier, shelved Phase 1 scheme and it is NOT currently in force.Designated: Not applicable — no scheme in force as at 21 July 2026. Fresh consultation potentially completing Summer 2026.
- Additional HMO licensing
- In operation. The council states: 'Barnet has now adopted a borough-wide scheme which applies to smaller HMOs not covered by mandatory licensing. This applies to HMOs occupied by 3 or more people in 2 or more households.' It also captures section 257-style conversions: buildings converted into self-contained flats that do not meet the Building Regulations 1991 (or later) where the building is three or more storeys, there are at least three flats, all flats are privately rented, and the building and flats are under the same ownership or control. Fees from 1 January 2026 (mandatory and additional are charged at the same rate, in two stages): five-year licence up to 5 units — total £1,872.00 (Fee 1 £1,061.00, Fee 2 £811.00); one-year licence — total £1,224.00; five-year renewal — total £1,677.00; one-year renewal — total £1,028.00; each extra unit over 5 — £37. 10% discount off Fee 1 for accredited landlords (LLAS, NLA, RLA, ARLA, NALS, RICS, UKALA) and for charities. Optional fast-track service £200 on top of the standard fee.Coverage: Borough-wide.Designated: The council's current pages do not state the scheme's start or end dates. Secondary sources (London Property Licensing) record the borough-wide additional scheme as having started 27 October 2022 for five years, and the council has since renewed borough-wide HMO licensing — but no council page read as of 21 July 2026 confirmed the current designation's dates.
The single most important Barnet fact for a landlord: a fee for selective licensing appears on the council's own fees page, which reads as if a scheme exists. It does not. The council has explicitly decided not to implement the previously agreed Burnt Oak / Colindale scheme, and is re-consulting. Only mandatory and additional HMO licensing currently bite. Paper HMO applications have not been accepted since 31 October 2024 — online only. Penalties: unlimited fine on conviction or a civil penalty up to £30,000, plus a possible rent repayment order of up to 12 months' rent.
Checked against the council’s own pages on 21 July 2026. Licensing schemes are five-year designations that expire and get redesignated on their own timetables — always confirm on BarnetCouncil’s licensing pages before applying or paying.
What Barnet is built of — and what that means for repairs
Barnet is overwhelmingly interwar outer suburbia: the council's own residential design guidance describes the suburban typology as 'the commonest typology in the borough dominated by housing built during the inter war period', predominantly detached and semi-detached two-storey houses with front and rear gardens and grass verges. Older Victorian and Edwardian terraces and villas cluster in the southern and eastern parts of the borough around Finchley, Golders Green and East Barnet, alongside historic cores at Chipping Barnet, Hendon and Mill Hill. Colindale and Brent Cross are the exception: large-scale high-density new-build apartment blocks built over the last two decades.
Common repair issues in Barnet
- Interwar semis with early cavity walls, where retrofitted cavity insulation has failed or bridged and now causes penetrating damp
- Original 1930s pitched roofs, chimney stacks and hip details at end of life, plus asbestos cement in garage roofs and soffits of that era
- Cracking and subsidence risk on London Clay, aggravated by mature street trees on interwar avenues
- Heavy demand for rear and side-return extensions and loft conversions on semis, constrained by 16 conservation areas and an unusually large number of Article 4 directions
- Older Victorian and Edwardian terraces converted into flats, where sound insulation and means of escape frequently fall short of current HMO and Building Regulations standards
- New-build Colindale and Brent Cross blocks with communal plant, MVHR and district heating that leaseholders cannot service independently
Areas we cover in Barnet
- Finchley
- Golders Green
- Hendon
- Mill Hill
- Chipping Barnet
- Edgware
- Colindale
- Burnt Oak
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Browse all servicesStraight answers for Barnet
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Do landlords need a property licence in Barnet?
Barnet operates additional HMO licensing borough-wide. Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England regardless. Checked against Barnet Council’s own pages on 21 July 2026 — confirm on the council’s website before applying, as designations expire and are renewed on their own timetables.
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