Nottingham runs three landlord licensing schemes at the same time: mandatory HMO licensing citywide, additional HMO licensing in designated areas, and selective licensing. The fire conditions are not identical across the three, so the first job is working out which scheme the address falls under. The council’s own licensing pages are the place to check. The second selective licensing scheme started on 1 December 2023. Current rules sit on Nottingham City Council’s licensing for landlords page.
- Mandatory HMO licensing applies citywide to five or more people forming two or more households who share or lack a WC, cooking or washing facilities.
- Additional HMO licensing drops that to three or more people in two or more households, inside designated areas only.
- Selective licensing catches ordinary rented houses, not just shared ones.
Accredited landlords pay the lowest application fee. Sitting outside a scheme removes the licence, not the fire safety duty. Check the designation.
Student terraces, the Lace Market, and licensed family lets
A lot of the shared stock is older terraces around the universities. Fire stopping between the original rooms, and between the ground floor and the bedrooms above, is what those assessments usually find missing. Turnover is high. Alarms get taken down. Say it is a student HMO when you ask for quotes.
Converted buildings in the Lace Market and around the station are a different job. The original structure was not built as homes. Compartmentation between the new flats and the old fabric is the usual finding. A licensed family let under selective licensing is often an ordinary house. The report still has to name the escape and the storey alarms. Those three buildings should not come back as the same template.
If you rent from a social landlord, start with them.
Three licences, one Fire Safety Order
Each housing licence is from Nottingham City Council. The fire risk assessment is a Fire Safety Order duty. Holding a selective licence, an additional HMO licence, or a mandatory HMO licence does not finish the assessment. The conditions on the licence can tell the assessor where the alarms should be. They cannot stand in for the written report Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service will ask for.
Who enforces this in Nottingham
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service is the enforcing authority for the common parts and for business premises. Three separate licences run in this city and none of them changes that. The fire service inspects on its own terms, can serve enforcement and prohibition notices, and will ask to see the written assessment and proof that its recommendations were acted on. A current licence is not a defence if that report does not exist.
What a Nottingham report should actually name
A report that could have been written for any city is not suitable and sufficient here. It should say which of the three schemes the address sits under, where the storey alarms are, and what the escape is if the staircase is the only way out. For a Lace Market conversion it should name the original structure and the new compartmentation.
Checking an assessor in Nottingham
There is no statutory register. Before you appoint anyone, ask:
- What are your qualifications, and who awarded them?
- Are you third party certificated? If yes, take the number and check it with the scheme.
- What is your professional indemnity cover? Ask for the figure.
- How many buildings like this one have you assessed in Nottingham? If it is a student HMO, a selective-licence house, or a conversion, say so.
- Can I see a sample report? Client details removed. Read it for the scheme, the alarms, and the escape.
What it costs in Nottingham
Leicester is the next city east with its own fire condition on the selective licence: fire risk assessments in Leicester.
Derby is close by to the west: fire risk assessments in Derby.
HMO licensing in Nottingham
Which of the three licences do I need?
It depends on the address and how many households live there. Nottingham City Council’s licensing pages are the place to check. Do not guess from a neighbouring street.
Does any of those licences replace the fire risk assessment?
No. Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service will still ask for the written assessment.
I only let to a family. Do I still need an assessment?
If the house sits inside selective licensing you need that licence. If you only let a single private dwelling with no common parts, the Fire Safety Order may not apply to the inside of that home. Common parts, HMOs and businesses are still in. If you are unsure, ask the fire service, not a forum.
Getting a quote from an assessor covering Nottingham
Describe the premises and we will pass it to assessors covering Nottingham. Say which licensing scheme the address sits under, if you know it.
Not in Nottingham? See all the areas we cover.