Kent is a county of district and borough councils, plus the unitary area of Medway, and HMO licensing is run by each of them, not by the county. The live rule that catches landlords out is Medway’s. Medway has approved both selective licensing and additional HMO licensing in named wards. Under the additional HMO scheme a house let to three or more people from more than one household, sharing facilities, needs a licence, below the national threshold of five. The selective scheme covers ordinary single-household rentals in those wards. The wards run across Chatham, Gillingham and Strood, including Chatham Central and Brompton, Fort Pitt, Gillingham North, Gillingham South, Luton and Watling. The council was republishing its notices, maps and dates when this was written, so check the confirmed start dates and fees on Medway Council’s property licensing page.
Elsewhere in Kent the picture is mostly mandatory HMO only. Thanet licensed parts of Margate and Cliftonville from 2011 to 2021, but that scheme has expired and no new selective licences are being accepted. A larger Margate and Ramsgate scheme is only at the proposal stage. Canterbury runs mandatory HMO licensing at five or more people. Check your own council, because the rule changes between districts.
Kent Fire and Rescue Service will ask for the written assessment
Kent Fire and Rescue Service is the enforcing authority for premises across Kent and Medway. One service covers both, so a Medway assessment and a Canterbury assessment are enforced by the same people. They can inspect, serve notices and prosecute. Their own guidance is blunt about the record: since the Fire Safety Order came in they have restricted the use of a number of takeaway and restaurant premises because they were so unsafe. Their audit will ask whether you have a written assessment and whether the measures in it are actually in place.
The person who appoints the assessor is still the responsible person. There is no licence to write one.
The Medway terraces, the coast, and a student city
A Kent assessment is not one job. The Medway wards under licensing are dense Victorian and Edwardian terraces in Chatham, Gillingham and Strood, which is why the council targeted them. These are older houses split for sharers, where fire stopping between the conversions and between floors is what the assessment usually finds missing.
The coast is a different job. Margate, Cliftonville and Ramsgate have large Victorian seaside guesthouses broken into flats and bedsits, several homes behind one front door and often one staircase. Canterbury is a student city with the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church, so shared student houses run through the residential streets. Say what the building is and where it is when you ask for quotes, because a Chatham terrace, a seafront conversion and a student house are three different reports.
If you rent from a social landlord, start with them.
Housing licences and the Fire Safety Order are two duties
A selective or HMO licence is a housing licence from your council. The fire risk assessment is a duty under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. You still need the written fire risk assessment. If your street sits outside a Medway licensing ward, that licence does not apply. The fire safety duty stays if you run a business, let an HMO, or manage a building with common parts, anywhere in the county.
What a Kent report should actually name
A report that could have been written for any town is not suitable and sufficient here. It should name the district, say whether the property sits in a Medway licensing ward or needs a mandatory HMO licence, where the alarms are, and what the escape is. For a Margate seafront conversion it should name the flats sharing one staircase. For a Chatham terrace it should name the fire stopping between the sharers’ rooms, not “common parts” as a heading with nothing under it.
Checking an assessor in Kent
There is no statutory register of fire risk assessors, in Kent or anywhere else, so the checking falls to whoever signs the invoice. Ask for qualifications, professional body membership, indemnity cover and a sample report before you appoint. The full list of questions, and what a competent answer sounds like, is on what a fire risk assessment costs.
What it costs in Kent
The building sets the price, not the county name. A small Chatham terrace let to sharers is a morning. A Margate block of bedsits with cooking in rooms and one staircase is not. Anything over 11 metres brings the fixed fire door checks with it, and that adds time before anybody writes a word. National ranges, and what moves a quote inside them, are on what a fire risk assessment costs. Ask for a fixed price against a written description of the property rather than an hourly rate.
Essex is the other south-east county on this site: fire risk assessments in Essex.
Licensing across Kent
My rental is in Chatham. Do I need a licence?
Possibly. Medway has approved selective licensing for single-household rentals and additional HMO licensing at three or more sharers in named wards across Chatham, Gillingham and Strood. Check the ward and the confirmed dates on the council page.
Does a housing licence replace the fire risk assessment?
No. Kent Fire and Rescue Service will still ask for the written assessment.
Is Margate still under selective licensing?
Not at the moment. Thanet’s Cliftonville and Margate scheme ran from 2011 to 2021 and has expired. A larger Margate and Ramsgate scheme is only being proposed. The fire safety duty applies either way.
Getting a quote from an assessor covering Kent
Describe the premises and we will pass it to assessors covering Kent. Say the town, and whether it is an HMO, a single-household let in a Medway ward, or a seafront conversion.
Not in Kent? See all the areas we cover.