Derby runs mandatory HMO licensing only. The council states plainly that it does not operate any additional HMO or selective licensing, so the licence duty starts at five people. A house let to five or more people from two or more households, sharing facilities, needs a licence. A new licence for an HMO of up to six bedrooms costs £1,368. The threshold and the current fee sit on Derby City Council’s HMO licensing page. A three or four person shared house is not licensable here, but it still needs a fire risk assessment.
Derby’s local twist is a planning rule, not a licensing one. From 3 May 2025 an Article 4 Direction requires planning permission to create an HMO of any size across the whole Arboretum ward and the parts of Abbey, Alvaston North, Darley, Mackworth and New Zealand, Normanton, Sinfin and Osmaston that sit inside the Ring Road. That controls change of use. It does not write the fire risk assessment. It does not remove the fire safety duty on a small HMO that has no licence.
Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service will ask for the written assessment
Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service is the enforcing authority for most premises in Derby. They can inspect, serve notices and prosecute, and they keep a public register of enforcement notices. Their own guidance says anyone who provides sleeping accommodation should make sure it has a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment in place that is reviewed regularly. 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.
Normanton, Arboretum and the streets near the university
The shared-housing weight in Derby sits in Normanton and Arboretum, dense terraced streets close to the centre, which is why the council drew the Article 4 area around them. These are older houses split for sharers, where fire stopping between the rooms and up the staircase is what the assessment usually finds missing. The University of Derby, with its main campus on Kedleston Road, feeds the student lets that fill those streets.
Rose Hill and the roads around London Road have seen the first wave of HMO planning applications since the Article 4 rule came in. A small HMO there can run without a licence, because mandatory licensing only bites at five sharers, and still needs a full assessment. Say how many sleep in the house when you ask for quotes.
If you rent from a social landlord, start with them.
Planning, licensing and the Fire Safety Order
Planning, licensing and fire law are separate here, and only fire law is about the assessment. The Article 4 Direction is planning permission for the change of use. The HMO licence is a housing licence, and it starts at five sharers. The fire risk assessment is a duty under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. You still need the written fire risk assessment whether or not the house needs planning permission or a licence.
What a Derby report should actually name
A report that could have been written for any city is not suitable and sufficient here. It should say how many people sleep in the house, where the storey alarms are, and what happens to the escape if the staircase is the only way out. For a Normanton terrace split for sharers it should name the fire stopping between the rooms, not “common parts” as a heading with nothing under it. Whether the house needed planning permission is a separate question from whether the assessment is any good.
Checking an assessor in Derby
There is no statutory register of fire risk assessors, in Derby 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 Derby
The building sets the price, not the postcode. A three-bedroom shared house in Normanton is a morning. A larger house of sharers with cooking in rooms and doors onto one hall 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.
Nottingham is the other East Midlands city on this site: fire risk assessments in Nottingham.
Licensing and planning in Derby
My HMO has four sharers. Do I need a licence?
No. Derby runs mandatory HMO licensing only, which starts at five people. Below that there is no licence, but you may still need planning permission under the Article 4 rule, and you always need the fire risk assessment.
Does the Article 4 rule mean my assessment is done?
No. Article 4 is planning permission for the change of use. It is not fire law. Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service will still ask for the written assessment.
My house is outside the Ring Road area. Am I clear?
Of the planning rule, maybe, but check the council map. The fire safety duty applies across the whole city, inside the Article 4 area or not.
Getting a quote from an assessor covering Derby
Describe the premises and we will pass it to assessors covering Derby. Say whether it is a shared house, a five-person HMO, or a block of flats.
Not in Derby? See all the areas we cover.