Licensing and permits

How we monitor private sector housing conditions

The council has a statutory duty to monitor the condition of local private sector housing in Liverpool.

What we do

Our selective licensing scheme

Liverpool's selective licensing scheme was introduced in April 2022. It runs until March 2027.

The designated area of this scheme covers up to 80% of the city’s private rental sector. All rental properties in this area must have a licence, unless they are exempt. Find out if your property needs a licence.

This selective licensing scheme helps us monitor property standards because:

  • licences are granted subject to conditions
  • officers visit licensed properties to inspect for compliance with the licence conditions.
  • we can serve legal notices if licence conditions are breached 
  • we can punish non-compliance with Civil Penalty Notices or further prosecution

Monitoring of other rental properties

We continue to monitor and inspect the condition of private rental properties outside the selective licensing area, and use enforcement powers when needed.

In addition, mandatory House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing is in place citywide on all properties with five or more tenants making up more than one household.

We also offer advice and support to landlords and other stakeholders, in line with our enforcement policy, to ensure the safety of all privately rented housing. 

The action we take

We advise landlords to read our enforcement policy to be aware of their ongoing responsibilities to maintain their privately rented property.

All landlords have a duty to make sure their rented properties are well managed, safe and free from hazards.

If a landlord fails to fulfil their duty, we have powers under Housing Act 2004 that include:

  • serving legal notices
  • issuing civil penalties
  • prosecuting landlords

Our officers use their enforcement powers to make landlords address any issue that causes a serious health and safety risk to tenants.

Landlords who fail to carry out corrective work may face prosecution.

Action against poor or unlicensed landlords

We take all complaints seriously and use intelligence from several sources to identify properties that are poorly managed or in disrepair.

Anyone who controls or manages a property without an appropriate licence, and is not exempt, may be prosecuted. On conviction, this offence carries unlimited fines.

If there are any significant breaches of licence conditions, or repeated complaints about the property or its maintenance, we will take action. This may lead to a licence being revoked and prosecution.

Landlord responsibility for anti-social behaviour 

All landlords have a duty to tackle anti-social behaviour as set out in their licence conditions. Our private sector housing anti-social behaviour team enforce these conditions.