Fire risk assessments for Southampton HMOs — fixed price, sorted before the council inspects
5 out of 5 stars 5.0 on Google · all 13 reviews →£249 fixed · draft report first, pay after · Southampton inspects every licensed HMO — this is how you're ready
2 minutes · your likely fee, what's holding you back, and your fixed price · no payment details
- Draft report within 48 hours of the visit, or the assessment is free.
- No upfront payment
- 100% approval guarantee
- Fully independent
Same licence. Three prices. Southampton's lever is the fee.
Portsmouth rewards good management with a longer licence. Southampton does it differently: every HMO licence runs on the same schedule — what changes is what you pay to get it. Apply on time with the property in order and it's £953. Fully compliant and independently surveyed, £636. Miss your three-month window and it's £1,618 — and the cheaper routes close.
- On time, already compliant with all HMO standards
- Inspected by one of the council's three approved independent surveyors (their fee on top)
- If the certificate turns out wrong, it is voided — and you pay the full fee for a council visit anyway
- On time
- The council inspects
- Anything short of current standards becomes a licence condition with a deadline
- Application more than three months after the property became licensable
- No surveyor option
- The council inspects
Larger HMOs (5+ people) need a licence anywhere in the city. Since 1 October 2025, smaller HMOs also need one in nine wards: Bevois, Bargate, Banister & Polygon, Portswood, Swaythling, Shirley, Bassett, Freemantle, Millbrook — the additional licensing scheme, running to 30 September 2030. If your smaller HMO sits in one of these, the same fee ladder applies to you.
Fees from Southampton City Council's published schedule, effective 1 October 2025, in two stages (£300 application + issue fee). Not subject to VAT. Southampton City Council — HMO licence fees (published schedule) · verified 31 August 2026.
Council facts last reviewed: August 2026
Free · 2 minutes · no payment details
What will your HMO licence actually cost you?
£982 sits between the cheapest and dearest routes to the same licence.
same licence, three prices
★★★★★ 5.0 on Google · “Clear instructions on what to do and why, and the notices to provide to the tenants also a big bonus.” — HMO landlord · Southampton
How many rooms do you rent out (or plan to)?
How many storeys, counting a habitable basement or converted attic?
Do those storeys include a habitable basement or a converted attic?
How do your tenants rent?
Do you have a current fire risk assessment for the property?
Which of these are current and satisfactory?
Does the property have an HMO licence?
When did the property become licensable?
For most smaller HMOs in the nine wards, that was 1 October 2025 — when the scheme started.
Is your licence due for renewal in the next 3 months?
Your likely fee
£1,618 — the late rate.
The £953 and £636 routes closed three months after the property became licensable. What matters now is applying before enforcement does — operating an unlicensed HMO carries a civil penalty of up to £30,000 — and being ready for the inspection: Southampton inspects every licensed property, and anything wrong becomes a licence condition on their timescale.
You've applied and are waiting to hear — your fee is set by when your application went in.
If you can show the property became licensable within the last three months, the £953 rate is still open — check your dates.
Your report shows exactly what, and what the visit fixes.
Your likely fee
£953 — and you're inside your window.
Apply within three months of becoming licensable and the late rate never touches you. If the property is fully compliant, the £636 surveyor route is open too.
You've applied and are waiting to hear — your fee is set by when your application went in.
If you can show the property became licensable within the last three months, the £953 rate is still open — check your dates.
Your report shows exactly what, and what the visit fixes.
Your renewal window is what protects your fee.
Renew inside three months of expiry and it's £953 (or £636 compliant-and-surveyed). Let it lapse and the renewal is treated — and charged — as a late new application: £1,618.
You've applied and are waiting to hear — your fee is set by when your application went in.
If you can show the property became licensable within the last three months, the £953 rate is still open — check your dates.
Your report shows exactly what, and what the visit fixes.
A property this size I price personally — request your fixed quote and I come back the same day, usually.
Your full report comes with your booking confirmation.
Based on Southampton City Council's published criteria. The licence decision is always the council's.
Get the full report
Every criterion scored against the council's rules, your fix list in priority order, and your price held for 30 days.
Your report link comes by email. I'll follow up on your check — you can unsubscribe any time. Reports and answers are deleted after 30 days. Privacy
Or skip the email —
Your report is on its way
Check your inbox — the link opens your full report, scored criterion by criterion.
Different property, or changed answers?
Based on Southampton City Council's published criteria. The licence decision is always the council's.
Nothing is saved while you answer. Your result shows on screen — no email needed to see it.
Fixed prices, by rented rooms
No VAT, no travel charge, nothing paid until your finalised report is delivered.
Independent HMO assessments across Southampton, carried out personally by Matt McAllen — AIFSM independent fire risk assessor and chartered safety professional. Fixed prices from £249 by the number of rented rooms, no upfront payment, and a report ready to submit with your Southampton licence application.
| HMO — by rented rooms | Price |
|---|---|
| Up to 4 rented rooms · 2 storeys | £249 |
| 5–7 rented rooms · 2 storeys | £269 |
| Basement or third storey (incl. converted attic) | +£50 |
| 8+ rooms, or basement and attic | Request quote |
The price buys more than a visit
Every assessment includes twelve months of fire-related advice on the property.
Council letter lands, alarm question comes up, tenant change — you message me, I answer. Already what happens; now it’s in writing.
If the council asks for fire safety work that’s going to cost serious money, send me what they’ve asked for — free initial view on whether it sounds proportionate, before you spend.
An initial view based on the information provided, not a formal opinion — formal advice needs the property seen, via a full assessment.
The emergency lighting bill that never existed
A six-bed shared house in Southampton, licensed for years — and never once fire risk assessed. The landlord braced for the big one: emergency lighting throughout, the cost he'd been dreading since the licence was granted. The standard never asked for it. For a shared house like his, Southampton's own guidance points to lighting only where the escape route needs it — his didn't.
What the assessment actually found cost almost nothing to fix: fuel stored next to the fridge, doors wedged open, a rear exit locked with a key. Behaviour and paperwork, not hardware.
That's the pattern across our HMO work — the alarms are usually fine; it's the paperwork that fails. And for balance: the one thing the council had previously told this landlord to fix, they were right about.
Get my priceWhat Southampton landlords say
“Clear instructions on what to do and why, and the notices to provide to the tenants also a big bonus.”
“The resulting report was crystal clear, remarkably thorough, and exceptionally professional.”
Straight answers
Does a Southampton HMO need fire doors everywhere?
In the council’s own words: fire doors are “not likely to be required in one or two storey properties occupied as shared houses, dependent on layout and risk” — doors must be sound construction, and hollow or damaged doors won’t do. Bedsit-type HMOs will need them. The assessment tells you which side of that line your property sits on before you spend.
Is emergency lighting required in my HMO?
Often not. For a typical two-storey shared house, the standard Southampton applies points to none. It’s the most common cost landlords wrongly brace for.
I didn’t know I needed a fire risk assessment — do I?
Yes. The duty applies to every HMO under the Fire Safety Order, licensed or not, in the nine wards or out of them. Southampton expects landlords to identify their fire provisions by doing one.
Which Southampton HMOs need a licence?
Five or more people: everywhere in the city. Three or four people: in nine wards — Bevois, Bargate, Banister & Polygon, Portswood, Swaythling, Shirley, Bassett, Freemantle, Millbrook — until 30 September 2030.
What does a Southampton HMO licence cost?
£953 applied on time; £636 on time, fully compliant and independently surveyed; £1,618 late. Two stages, no VAT.
My tenants are on separate agreements — does that change anything?
Yes, materially. Separate agreements push a property toward bedsit standards — fire doors, higher-grade detection. A contract change is a fire-system change; most landlords hear this for the first time in the assessment.
Are Southampton’s room sizes different?
Higher than the national minimums — singles 10 m², doubles 14 m² (less only where a separate communal living room is provided). Worth knowing before any reconfiguration.
One visit. Ready before Southampton inspects.
Independent assessment, draft report before you pay a penny. The council inspects every licensed HMO — walk in with the fire side already right.
Also serving the rest of the city and beyond — see fire risk assessments in Southampton or all areas.