Cambridge does not run an additional or selective licensing scheme. A shared house here follows the national rule, so a licence is only needed once a property is let to five or more tenants from two or more households. The mandatory HMO licence fee for 2026/27 is £1,133, or £1,000 if you apply at least eight weeks before an existing licence runs out. The current figures are on Cambridge City Council’s HMO licensing page. Check it before you apply, because the fee is reviewed each year.
There is a local catch that surprises landlords. Once an HMO houses seven or more people it also needs planning permission and building control approval, on top of the licence. The council is looking at going further too: a report on a possible Article 4 direction, which would make planning permission necessary to turn any family home into a shared house, is expected to go to cabinet in autumn 2026. None of this replaces the fire risk assessment, which is a separate duty and applies whether the house is licensed or not.
Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service is the enforcing authority
Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service enforces fire safety law across the city. They can inspect a premises without notice, serve enforcement and prohibition notices, and prosecute. They will not carry out your fire risk assessment, though they can give advice. When they audit a property they will ask to see the written assessment and check that the measures in it are actually there.
The responsible person is whoever controls the premises, usually the landlord or the managing agent for a let property.
Student houses, Mill Road terraces and the historic centre
Cambridge has one of the densest concentrations of shared houses in the East of England, driven by two universities and a large research and professional population. A lot of it is Victorian terraces around Mill Road, Romsey and Petersfield, split room by room for sharers. In houses like these the assessment usually turns on the fire separation between rooms, the escape past a single staircase, and older wiring. The historic centre adds its own problem: timber framed and listed buildings, where the escape and the fire stopping have to be dealt with without stripping out original fabric. Purpose built student blocks are a different job again, with shared parts and a stay put or evacuate decision to get right.
If the property is owned by a college or a housing provider, ask their estates team first, because they may already hold a current assessment.
Below the licence threshold the fire duty still applies
Because most smaller Cambridge house shares fall below the five tenant threshold, plenty of landlords never apply for a licence and assume nothing else is required. The fire risk assessment is a duty under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and it applies to a let HMO of any size, a business premises, and any building with shared parts. The licence and the assessment are separate, and only one of them depends on the number of tenants.
What a Cambridge report should actually name
A report that could have been written for any city is not suitable and sufficient for a Cambridge house share or a college building. It should say where the alarms sit on each storey, what happens to the escape if the only staircase is blocked, and how the fire separation works in a building you cannot easily alter. For a block it should name the fire doors and the floor height, not leave “common parts” as a heading with nothing under it.
Checking an assessor in Cambridge
There is no official register of fire risk assessors anywhere in England, so the checking falls to whoever pays the invoice. Ask for qualifications, professional body membership, indemnity insurance 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 Cambridge
The building sets the price, not the postcode. A three bedroom house share in Romsey is a morning; a listed building in the centre, or a block with shared parts and one staircase, is not. Anything over 11 metres brings the fixed fire door checks with it. The 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 nearest county we also cover: fire risk assessments in Essex.
HMO licensing in Cambridge
My house has four sharers. Do I need a licence?
Not at the moment. Cambridge follows the national rule, so a mandatory licence is only needed at five or more tenants from two or more households. The fire risk assessment still applies. Check the council page in case the rules change.
What happens at seven tenants?
An HMO of seven or more people needs planning permission and building control approval as well as the licence. Confirm the current position with the council before you let.
Does a licence cover the fire risk assessment?
No. Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service will still expect a written assessment, and the licence does not provide one.
Getting a quote from an assessor covering Cambridge
Describe the premises and we will pass it to assessors covering Cambridge. Say whether it is a house share, a five person HMO, a listed building, or a block with shared parts.
Not in Cambridge? See all the areas we cover.