Building Compliance in Brighton and Hove

The council’s HMO guidance identifies additional licensing for HMOs with two or more storeys and three or four unrelated occupiers. This scheme runs from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2029. It separately describes mandatory licensing for HMOs occupied by five or more unrelated people and says a licence is always needed where five or more tenants form more than one household. Check occupancy and storeys before deciding which application to prepare.

Brighton and Hove’s selective licensing page covers Kemptown, Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, Queens Park, and Whitehawk and Marina. The scheme runs from 2 September 2024 to 1 September 2029. It includes homes let to one occupier, two occupiers or a family, plus certain single-storey homes with three or four unrelated occupiers outside HMO licensing criteria. Importantly, the same page says the planned Central Hove and Regency expansion is paused pending review of a legal challenge. Do not treat an announced designation as proof that the expansion is operating.

The HMO guidance says licensed properties must meet the council’s licensing standards and that licence holders must carry out necessary work. For an affected property, identify the applicable conditions before commissioning evidence. We can arrange fire risk assessments, EPCs and legionella risk assessments where appropriate to the building and duties involved. These are separate assessments, not substitutes for a licence or a guarantee that every licensing condition is met.

The council’s heritage and sustainability guidance, updated in July 2024, covers listed buildings and conservation areas. It explains that keeping historic buildings in use avoids replacement materials, energy consumption and construction waste, while recognising that they can be less energy efficient. For a retrofit, use retrofit assessments and U-value calculations to compare improvements before choosing visible alterations. The guidance recommends avoiding loss of historic fabric and features and making improvements reversible; thermal performance alone does not settle heritage acceptability.