From 1 September 2026, a new selective licensing scheme takes effect across 14 wards in Croydon. For letting and managing agents with stock in the borough, it changes what “compliant” looks like — and it does so against a backdrop of a previous Croydon scheme that central government refused to renew. This guide explains what selective licensing is, which wards are caught, how and when to apply, and how Kamma helps agents stay on top of it.
What is selective licensing?
Selective licensing is a discretionary scheme that local authorities can introduce under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004. Where it applies, a landlord must hold a licence for every privately rented home before letting it — regardless of the property’s size or condition. It is the broadest of the three main licensing regimes, sitting alongside mandatory HMO licensing (which applies nationally to larger houses in multiple occupation) and additional HMO licensing (a discretionary scheme for smaller HMOs).
The distinction matters for agents because it changes who needs a licence. In Croydon, a selective licence is required where a property is rented to a single household (for example, a family), let to a single tenant, or shared by two individuals. If the property is a licensable HMO, it is covered by the mandatory or additional HMO scheme instead and does not need a separate selective licence.
Why Croydon’s 2026 scheme looks different from its last one
Croydon is no stranger to selective licensing. The council ran a borough-wide scheme from 2015 to 2020 under its plan to “make Croydon a better place to rent.” When it tried to extend that scheme across the whole borough for another five years, the application was rejected by the Secretary of State — a decision driven largely by the council’s weak enforcement record under the original designation.
The numbers behind that rejection are instructive. Despite collecting millions in licence fees, Croydon brought strikingly few prosecutions, and its own inspection figures recorded no Category 1 hazards across thousands of visits — a sign that the scheme was being administered rather than enforced. By contrast, boroughs such as Newham built a data-driven enforcement model that identified non-compliant landlords and fed intelligence into wider environmental health action. The lesson that the central government took away was clear: licensing is judged on outcomes, not on the size of the designated area.
That history explains why the 2026 scheme is targeted rather than borough-wide. Instead of blanketing all of Croydon, the council has designated 14 specific wards where the case for intervention is strongest — the kind of evidence-led, focused approach that schemes have to demonstrate to survive scrutiny. For agents, the practical effect is that licensing obligations now depend on exactly which ward a property sits in. Croydon is far from alone here: similar ward-targeted schemes are landing in 2026 in Islington and Havering, so portfolios spread across London increasingly span several schemes at once.
Which Croydon wards are affected by selective licensing?
The scheme applies to privately rented properties in the following 14 wards from 1 September 2026:
- Addiscombe East
- Addiscombe West
- Bensham Manor
- Broad Green
- Fairfield
- Norbury and Pollards Hill
- Norbury Park
- Selhurst
- South Croydon
- South Norwood
- Thornton Heath
- Waddon
- West Thornton
- Woodside
If you are unsure whether a property needs a licence, you can check any address with Kamma’s property licence checker, which tells you instantly whether a selective, additional, or mandatory licence applies — across Croydon’s new wards and every other scheme in England and Wales. A handful of property types are exempt — including licensable HMOs (covered by their own schemes), tenancies granted by registered social landlords, and properties subject to a management order or a temporary exemption notice.
How and when can I apply for a licence?
Any affected property must be licensed before it is let once the scheme goes live on 1 September 2026. Croydon has confirmed that further details on the date applications open will be published in July 2026, so agents should plan to register as soon as the application portal is available rather than waiting until a property is on the market.
Licences are granted for up to five years, though the council can issue a shorter term where there are concerns about compliance or property management. For agents managing multiple properties across the affected wards, the most efficient approach is to audit your portfolio now against the ward list, confirm which units will need a selective licence, and budget the application fees and lead time into your onboarding process well ahead of the September deadline. Our letting agent licensing checklist for 2026 sets out what to gather and when.
What’s at stake if you get it wrong
Operating an unlicensed property once the scheme is in force carries real financial exposure. A local authority can impose a financial penalty of up to £40,000 per unlicensed property as an alternative to prosecution. On top of that, tenants and councils can pursue Rent Repayment Orders of up to 24 months’ rent — and enforcement bodies such as Justice for Tenants now pursue these with a success rate of around 98%. For an agent managing a portfolio, an oversight on even a handful of addresses can compound quickly. Our guide to property licensing fines breaks the penalties down in full, and the Rachel Reeves case shows how easily a missed licence can slip through even a managed let.
How does Kamma support selective licensing?
Kamma is a property licensing compliance platform built for exactly this problem. Schemes like Croydon’s 2026 designation are introduced, amended, and retired council by council across the country, and keeping track of which addresses fall inside which scheme — and when — is where most agents are exposed.
Kamma maintains live coverage of every licensing scheme in England and Wales, so an agent can check any address against the current designation and see whether a selective, additional, or mandatory licence is required. The same intelligence underpins our analysis of the Mayor of London’s Rogue Landlord and Agent database, which we have tracked since its inception to map enforcement trends across boroughs. For a portfolio spread across multiple Croydon wards — some in the scheme, some not — that address-level accuracy is the difference between a clean book and a £40,000-per-property liability.
Want to see how Kamma handles Croydon’s new scheme across your portfolio? Get in touch or book a demo to understand how we can solve property licensing for you.
Source for scheme detail: London Borough of Croydon, Selective Licensing Scheme 2026. Regulatory penalty figures current as of May 2026.
