Property Licensing Now Demands More

Why compliance is quietly failing under growing complexity and enforcement.

2025 marked the sharpest rise in property licensing schemes since Kamma began tracking licensing in 2017, with 49 schemes announced.

With multiple schemes now approaching renewal at the end of their five-year cycles, and councils set to gain stronger enforcement powers once the Renters’ Rights Bill becomes law, this trajectory is only expected to accelerate.

Licensing compliance is no longer a static, localised requirement. It is becoming a dynamic, fast-moving regulatory landscape that letting agents are expected to navigate in real time.

London is at the epicentre of this shift.

The expansion of licensing schemes from 2017–2025

Selective Scheme

Additional Scheme

28/32

Boroughs with selective or additional licensing

52

Active London based schemes and consultations

£13.8m

In fines levied for licensing offences

The scale alone is challenging. The fragmentation is what turns complexity into risk.

"In just over 25 miles driving around North London, you can pass through 16 different types of licensing legislation."

Each boundary represents a different legal framework. Each framework carries its own rules, conditions, documents, and enforcement approach.

Why compliance is more important than ever

Every council operates its schemes differently, not just in whether a licence is required, but how that licence is granted and maintained.

Buried within scheme documentation are variations relating to:

Even properties directly opposite one another can sit under entirely different licensing regimes.

At the same time, the consequences of getting this wrong are becoming more severe.

Upcoming changes include:

Renters’ Rights Bill becomes law in May 2025

Increased use of private enforcement officers

A national landlord database due to launch

Rent Repayment Orders doubling to 24 months

Civil penalties and fines of up to £30,000

Complete removal of Section 21 evictions

The margin for error is shrinking.

Where licensing compliance breaks down

For even small letting agents operating across just three boroughs, compliance can mean understanding and tracking six or more overlapping licensing schemes at any one time.

Licensing compliance now operates as a system with multiple moving parts: tenancies, scheme boundaries, licence conditions, application requirements, and people. When those parts change independently, and processes don’t keep pace, licences don’t usually fail in obvious ways.

How licences slip through the cracks

Moving part in the system	What changes in reality	Where the process breaks	Resulting risk
Tenancy makeup	A new tenant moves in and the household no longer qualifies as a single household	No structured tracking of households or occupancy changes	Property becomes licensable without being flagged
Licensing schemes	Schemes renew and redraw ward or street boundaries	No proactive, routine geographic re-checking	Properties quietly move into scope
Licence type	A property shifts from selective to small HMO requirements	Licence assumptions aren't revisited mid-tenancy	Existing licence becomes invalid
Application requirements	Required documents and evidence differ by council and scheme	Manual document handling and inconsistent checklists	Applications rejected or delayed
Licence conditions	Conditions vary widely across boroughs	Reliance on unclear or outdated council guidance	Licences granted but non-compliant
Staff knowledge	Compliance understanding sits with individuals	Staff changes without formal compliance handovers	Licences lapse or are never submitted
New scheme launches	Neighbouring boroughs introduce new schemes with new rules	Reliance on trade press or word of mouth	Late applications and enforcement exposure

A line has been crossed

Licensing compliance has quietly shifted from an administrative task to specialist discipline, without agents being given the tools, systems, or capacity to match that shift.

Continuous monitoring

Real-time awareness of scheme changes

Geographic Precision

Street-level accuracy across boundaries

Regulatory interpretation

Understanding council-specific requirements

Operational Resilience

Systems that don’t rely on memory

This is the reality agents are being asked to operate within.