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.
PO4 0BD is in Portsmouth (Central Southsea 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 Portsmouth, 1 Sep 2023 to 31 Aug 2028. Smaller HMOs (for example 3 or 4 sharers) need a licence here too. Citywide, including section 257 HMOs.
Scheme details were checked on 17 Oct 2026 from the council's own pages. Schemes start, end and get renewed; the council's page is the current word.
The council's register
We couldn't find a licence for this house number on Portsmouth's published register (copy of 17 Oct 2026). 13 licences at PO4 0BD are listed, for other numbers or flats.
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.
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 PO4 0BD: tenants of homes let without a required licence can apply for a rent repayment order.
- What the rent tribunal decided on rent increases near PO4 0BD.
- Email me when a new decision is published near PO4 0BD.
- 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.