Slough’s Proposed Borough-Wide Licensing: What Berkshire Landlords Should Do Before the Council Decides

🏠 HMO · 23 October 2026 · 6 min read · Hiten Arya, Director

Slough Borough Council has asked landlords and residents whether it should license almost every privately rented home in the borough. The consultation closed on 23 September 2026, and the next step is a decision by the council’s Cabinet. If you own an HMO or a rental property in Slough, here is what was proposed, what it could cost, and how to decide whether to comply or sell.

What Slough is proposing

The consultation ran from 15 July to 23 September 2026 and covered two schemes across all 21 wards. Additional licensing would cover smaller HMOs, broadly those with three or four people from two or more households sharing basic amenities, plus section 257 HMOs. Selective licensing would require other privately rented homes to be licensed, although properties already licensed as HMOs would not be covered twice. Each scheme would run for five years with an annual review.

The council can adopt one scheme, both, or neither. As of 23 October 2026 we have found no published Cabinet decision and no confirmed start date, although the council had said a report would return to Cabinet in September or October 2026, so any landlord relying on a particular timetable should check directly with the council.

The numbers behind the proposal

The council’s evidence report counts 16,710 privately rented properties in Slough, 28.6% of the homes in the borough, up from 25.3% in 2011. It predicts 2,024 HMOs, of which 682 are known or licensed and 1,342 are thought to be hidden. It also predicts that 452 HMOs, or 22.3%, have serious hazards, against a national average the report puts at 10%.

Those HMO and hazard figures are modelled predictions rather than inspection counts, and the council has been open about that. They matter all the same, because they are the evidence a council relies on to justify a scheme. Slough also ran earlier schemes that ended on 30 June 2024, under which 149 properties were licensed under additional licensing and 3,635 under selective, so this would be a return to licensing rather than something new.

Proposed fees and penalties

The proposed fee is £950 per property for an additional licence and £750 for a selective licence, each lasting up to five years. The fee is split into two parts, one due on application and one before the licence is granted. The council’s summary also proposes a £75 supplement where a landlord has to be prompted to apply, and a £75 reduction on the application element for the second and later flats where three or more self-contained flats share an owner or manager. These figures are proposals and could change.

The consequences of getting it wrong are what concentrate the mind. The council’s summary sets out a civil penalty of up to £40,000, prosecution with an unlimited fine, entry on the national rogue landlord database, a landlord ban of at least 12 months in some cases indefinitely, and rent repayment orders of up to 24 months’ rent.

What this means for Slough landlords

For a well-run, fully compliant property, licensing is a cost and an administrative task, not a crisis. The harder cases are the ones the modelling points to: older stock with outstanding works, shared houses that have never been licensed, and properties where the numbers only just work once finance costs, compliance spend and the Renters’ Rights Act are all taken into account. For those owners, the question is no longer whether the rules are fair but what the property is worth to them under the new regime.

Comply or sell: a practical way to decide

1. Establish where your property sits

Work out whether your property would fall under additional licensing as an HMO, selective licensing as a standard let, or neither. Do not guess, because the definitions turn on the number of occupants and households.

2. Cost the work to licence standard

Get a realistic figure for fire safety, room sizes, amenities and any hazards a council officer would flag. Add the licence fee and your management cost, then compare the result with your net rent.

3. Compare against a sale now

Set your net position after compliance against what a sale would realise today. Licences are granted to a named person, so a buyer would normally need to apply for their own. A buyer will price in the compliance position, which is why preparing early matters.

4. Choose the route that protects value

A property that is compliant and well documented can go to the open market. One that needs work, or an owner who wants no publicity, may be better served by a discreet off-market sale to a qualified investor.

Selling in Slough and across Berkshire with London Property Brokerage

We act for owners who want their property marketed and sold, and we specialise in discreet off-market sales and in HMO disposals. Hiten Arya is involved personally, drawing on more than 40 years in property, and we give honest, evidence-based advice on whether to comply, hold or sell. Our network of qualified buyers and investors means a confidential sale can be arranged without a public listing. Whether you own an HMO in Slough, a rental in Reading or Maidenhead, or a family home in Surrey or Berkshire, we will tell you plainly which route we think suits you.