Is my home licensed?
Most shared houses (HMOs) need a licence, and in many areas every privately rented home does. Enter your postcode to see which licensing schemes cover your council and, where the council publishes its register as a file we can read, whether a licence for your address is on it. Nothing you enter is stored.
E4 8SA is in Waltham Forest (Valley ward)
Licensing schemes
- Mandatory HMO licensing applies everywhere in England: a house or flat shared by 5 or more people from 2 or more households needs a licence.
- Additional HMO licensing covers the whole of Waltham Forest, 1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2030. Smaller HMOs (for example 3 or 4 sharers) need a licence here too. Borough-wide.
- Selective licensing covers this postcode (part of Waltham Forest), 1 May 2025 to 31 Mar 2030. Every privately rented home in the area needs a licence, shared or not.
Scheme details were checked on 17 Oct 2026 from the council's own pages; whether a part-borough scheme covers this postcode comes from the Greater London Authority's licence-area map, the data behind the Mayor of London's checker. Schemes start, end and get renewed; the council's page is the current word.
The council's register
Selective licensing applies here: every privately rented home in the area needs a licence, shared or not. Waltham Forest's selective licence register isn't one we can check, so ask the landlord for the licence number, or use Waltham Forest's own register search.
What we can check for this address is Waltham Forest's register of licences for shared houses (HMOs) only:
No licence is listed at E4 8SA on Waltham Forest's published register (copy of 17 Oct 2026). Add a house number or flat above to check one home.
That is not the same as the home being unlicensed. Registers lag behind decisions, an application may be pending (which is a defence to a rent repayment claim), and this register holds licences for shared houses (HMOs) only. The council can confirm whether a licence or an application exists. Waltham Forest's register page.
This is public data about schemes and registers, not a finding about any home. Whether a licence was needed, and whether one was held, is for the council and, in a dispute, the tribunal.
Next
- What the tribunal ordered landlords of unlicensed homes to repay near E4 8SA: tenants of homes let without a required licence can apply for a rent repayment order.
- What the rent tribunal decided on rent increases near E4 8SA.
- Email me when a new decision is published near E4 8SA.
- Shelter on HMO licensing and GOV.UK on rent repayment orders.
Which councils we can check
Register lookups work for councils that publish their register as a file: Barnet (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Bexley (shared houses (HMOs) and selective licences; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Birmingham (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Brighton and Hove (shared houses (HMOs) and selective licences; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Camden (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Hillingdon (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Hounslow (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Kensington and Chelsea (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Kingston upon Thames (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Lambeth (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Leicester (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Lewisham (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Manchester (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Nottingham (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Portsmouth (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Sheffield (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Sutton (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Tower Hamlets (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Waltham Forest (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Warwick (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026); Woking (shared houses (HMOs) only; copy of 17 Oct 2026). The copy date is when we last downloaded the council's file; a few files are a council's reply to an earlier Freedom of Information request, so they are as old as that reply. For other councils the page shows the schemes and links to the council's own register search where there is one. How this works and its limits.