Our methodology
How we collect, verify, and maintain landlord licensing data for England.
Data sources
Our licensing scheme data is compiled from the following publicly available sources:
- Local authority websites
Council licensing pages, scheme designation documents, and public consultation records. This is our primary source for scheme details, fees, coverage areas, and application links.
- ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL)
Maps every postcode in England to its ward and local authority. Used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is how we determine which council area a postcode falls within.
- ONS Open Geography Portal
Provides local authority district boundaries as GeoJSON data, used for the interactive map. Used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Planning Data local authority directory
Used to backfill official council website links across the current 296 local authority districts in England where our manually researched dataset does not yet contain a direct council website URL.
- MHCLG scheme confirmations
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirms selective licensing schemes that cover more than 20% of a council's area. These confirmations help us verify large schemes.
How postcode lookup works
- You enter a postcode and submit the check. The postcode is sent to our app so we can match it against the ONS dataset and return the result, but we do not intentionally store individual postcode searches in our own database.
- We match the postcode to its local authority using the ONS NSPL dataset.
- We check our database for any licensing schemes operated by that local authority.
- For borough-wide schemes, any postcode in the area is covered. For ward-based schemes, we also check the ward code.
- We display the results with confidence indicators and links to the official council source.
Verification process
Each council's licensing data is researched manually by checking the council's website and any published scheme designation documents. We verify:
- Whether the council operates selective, additional, or both types of scheme
- The geographic coverage (borough-wide, specific wards, or custom areas)
- Current licence fees
- Scheme start and end dates
- Application URLs and council contact details
Coverage tiers
These labels describe how much public-source context is currently shown on a council page. They do not replace council verification.
144 councils currently sit above baseline coverage. 4 are in the narrower detailed-coverage tier, while 140 are in the wider enhanced-research tier, which may also include scheme records.
Baseline coverage
A trust-first council summary with the current public status, verification route, and practical next steps.
Detailed coverage
A council page that currently shows public scheme records such as scheme type, dates, fees, or coverage notes.
Enhanced research coverage
Our richest public page state, combining supporting research signals such as sources, registers, contact details, or review context. It may also include scheme records.
What each coverage tier means
| Tier | What is usually shown | What still needs checking |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline | Council identity, current public status summary, and a route to official verification where available. | Live council wording, scheme changes, and whether mandatory HMO licensing applies to the property facts. |
| Detailed | Scheme records such as type, dates, fees, coverage notes, or source links where the dataset currently holds them. | Current fees, exact boundaries, exemptions, and application requirements on the council source. |
| Enhanced | The richest public page state, with supporting research signals such as sources, registers, contacts, confidence notes, or review context. | The same council verification checks, especially where a scheme is proposed, under consultation, expired, or recently changed. |
Known limitations
The checker is a research and navigation tool, not legal advice. Use it to find likely routes and council sources, then verify the live position directly with the council.
- Scheme changes:Councils can introduce, modify, or end schemes at any time. There may be a delay between a council's decision and our database being updated.
- Ward boundaries: For ward-based schemes, we rely on ONS ward codes. In rare cases, boundary changes or edge-case postcodes may produce inaccurate results.
- Custom areas: Some schemes cover specific streets or custom areas that do not align with ward boundaries. Our postcode checker may not accurately identify these.
- HMO determination: Whether a specific property is an HMO depends on factors we cannot assess from a postcode alone (number of occupants, household composition, building layout).
- Incomplete detailed coverage: We index councils across England, and currently track all 296 local authority districts in the current England boundary dataset. Some councils may not yet have full scheme detail, fee data, direct licensing-page links, or boundary notes in the database.
Help us improve
If you spot an error or know of a scheme change that we haven't captured, please report an inaccuracy. Community corrections help us keep the data accurate for everyone.