Landlord Licensing Pause in Regency and Central Hove: Council Won't Say Who Brought the Legal Challenge
Brighton and Hove City Council’s new landlord licensing scheme for Regency and Central Hove was due to start tomorrow, Tuesday 20 October 2026. Instead it is on hold after a legal challenge, and the council is refusing to say who brought it, what it argues or where it was lodged.
Brighton and Hove News reports that the council gave the same answer to repeated questions: it cannot say more because of the ongoing legal process. The council has said only that it needs time to consider the challenge before deciding its next steps.
Sources: Brighton and Hove City Council, 9 October 2026, Brighton and Hove News, 16 October 2026 and Property118, 14 October 2026
This follows our earlier report on the pause to selective licensing in Regency and Central Hove, which sets out the scheme, the fees and the conditions in full.
What the council has and has not said
- It has paused the introduction of the scheme planned for 20 October “while we review the next steps”, according to Councillor Gill Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing.
- It wants any future scheme to be “built on the strongest possible foundations”.
- Landlord engagement events linked to the launch are postponed. The first online event drew more than 40 landlords and agents.
- It remains committed to improving standards in the private rented sector.
- Who lodged the legal challenge.
- What grounds the challenge is based on.
- Which court or authority it was lodged with.
- How long the review will take, or when the scheme could start.
Brighton and Hove News says it asked the council three times, starting on Friday 9 October. The first reply said the council “cannot provide any further information at this stage due to the ongoing legal process”. The second said its legal team advised it was “not in a position to share those details”. The third question, asking why the information cannot be shared, was not answered.
How the scheme was approved
Brighton and Hove News reports that the first stage of selective licensing, which began in 2024 in Kemptown, Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, Queens Park, and Whitehawk and the Marina, was approved by a public cabinet vote. It reports that the second stage, covering Regency and Central Hove, was approved by officers using delegated powers.
The council published its notice of designation for the two wards on 6 July 2026. It would have run from 20 October 2026 until 19 October 2031, covering privately rented homes let to one or two occupiers or a family, with a standard licence fee of £711 under the current scheme. Read the council’s notice of designation for the details.
Challenges to licensing in other councils
Property118 reported on 14 October that Brighton and Hove is not the only council to face a challenge to a licensing scheme. Nothing published so far links these cases to the one in Brighton and Hove, and the council has not said what its challenge concerns.
The national landlord database
The challenge comes as the government prepares a separate national system. Under the Renters’ Rights Act, the Private Rented Sector Database will be mandatory for all private landlords in England. The government says rollout begins from late 2026, region by region, and that landlords will pay an annual fee to be confirmed closer to launch.
Property118 reports that the first stage launches in the West Midlands on 15 December, and that landlord body Propertymark argues discretionary local licensing should end once the database is fully operational. The government’s roadmap does not link the database to local selective licensing schemes. See the government’s implementation roadmap and the key Renters’ Rights Act dates.
What landlords and tenants should know
How the story developed
The council’s earlier designation of the two wards is covered in our original report.
Sources
- Brighton and Hove City Council: Pause to introduction of selective licensing in Regency and Central Hove wards, 9 October 2026
- Brighton and Hove City Council: Notice of designation of areas for selective licensing 2026
- Brighton and Hove News: Mystery legal challenge halts new landlord licence scheme, 16 October 2026
- Property118: Another council pauses landlord licensing after legal challenge, 14 October 2026
- Property118: Call to scrap landlord licensing after database rollout, 7 October 2026
- GOV.UK: Implementing the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, our roadmap
- GOV.UK: When will the Renters’ Rights Act come into force
More local stories are under News and Brighton and Hove on ImJustBrighton.
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