Licensing and permits

Fees, discounts and exemptions

Fees are paid in two parts. The first payment is taken when you submit your application - this is an administration charge. We will request the second payment when we are ready to grant your licence and carry out compliance checks to make sure you meet the licence conditions.

How much will a licence cost?

Full property licence fee - £618

Initial payment: £203.94
Final payment: £414.06

New rental property licence fee - £426

Initial payment: £204.48
Final payment: £221.52

New rental property licence for EPC rated C or above - £370

Initial payment: £203.50
Final payment: £166.50

New rental property licence plus multi-flat in same block - £370

Initial payment: £203.50
Final payment: £166.50

New rental property licence fee with landlord membership discount - £393

Initial payment: £204.36
Final payment: £188.64

Landlords who assist the Council by offering permanent accommodation to meet its homelessness duties - no fee

New rental property licence for EPC rated C or above, plus multi-flat - £314

Initial payment: £204.10
Final payment: £109.90

New property licence for EPC rated C or above with landlord membership discount - £337

Initial payment: £205.57
Final payment: £131.43

New property licence plus multi-flat with landlord membership discount - £337

Initial payment: £205.57
Final payment: £131.43

New property licence for EPC rated C or above, plus multi flat and landlord membership discount - £281

Initial payment: £205.13
Final payment: £75.87

Discounts explained

Discounts may not be offered to licence holders whom the council has previously taken enforcement action against. The council has the final decision regarding discounted fees. If the council finds that false and or misleading information has been provided in order to obtain the discount, it will reclaim the outstanding fees and further action may be taken.

Discounts are listed below:

  • Applications submitted before 31st July 2022 qualify for the early bird fee.
  • Properties new to the rental market after 31st July 2022 will qualify for the early bird fee (new property licence) if:

- they apply for a licence before the property is tenanted or within 14 days of it being occupied.

- they buy a property with a tenant in situ and submit an application within 14 days of the completion of purchase.

All discounts listed are only available if the criteria above are also met:

  • Properties which have Energy Performance Certificate of C and above receive a £56 discount per property.
  • Properties in a block of flats where all of the flats are licensed by the same licence holder will receive a £56 discount.
  • There is no fee for a licence for landlords who assist the council to offer permanent accommodation to meet its homeless duties. To access this discount you must be working directly with the council's Housing Options service to provide permanent accommodation for homeless people and families, or providing accommodation for homeless veterans.
  • A discount of £33 for each property when the licence holder provides proof of an active membership of the professional bodies we work with. Find out more about membership discounts further down this page.

Licence fees will be reviewed each year.

Membership discounts

Discounts are only offered to landlords and agents who are members of the four associations listed below. You will be asked for your membership details on the application form. We do run periodic checks on membership details.

You must be a member before you apply for a licence - we cannot offer 'retrospective' discounts. If you stop being a member we will recover the full fee.

We have the right to refuse a discount - for instance if action has been, or is being, taken against you in respect of an unlicensed property you want to licence.

The final decision rests with us, but if you are unhappy with our decision you can use the council's complaints procedure to tell us why.

Exemptions

Properties with an HMO licence are exempt. There are also a number of other circumstances which may mean you do not have to licence a property.

If you want to apply for an exemption under any of these criteria, please use our Licensing and Regulations (LAR) portal to contact us

Sign in to LAR

Don't have an account? Register for a LAR account

If you are experiencing problems registering or logging into LAR please email us at privatesector.housing@liverpool.gov.uk

Refunds

We will give you a refund if:

  • You have made a duplicate application
  • You made an application for a property that is exempt
  • You have submitted the wrong application type

We will not give you a refund if:

  • You withdraw your application
  • We refuse your licence
  • We revoke (take away) your licence
  • You request the licence to be revoked

Our fees are not related to the length of a licence. If you wish to revoke your licence before it expires, we cannot give you a refund for any unused time.