Property Maintenance in Northolt

Property Maintenance in Northolt: what is different here

Three Ealing schemes, one Northolt property

Northolt sits inside all three of Ealing's licensing schemes. Ealing's selective designation took effect for both Northolt wards on 3 January 2023 and applies to homes let to one household. The borough-wide additional scheme, in force since April 2022 and due to end with March 2027, catches shared houses with three or four occupiers, and the national mandatory scheme catches five or more. Ealing consulted until 24 September 2026 on a new five-year additional scheme from April 2027, and as of October 2026 no outcome had been published, so confirm the position with Ealing before your renewal date.

On top of licensing, Ealing's Article 4 direction, in force from 14 November 2025 everywhere except Perivale, removes the automatic right to convert a family house to a small HMO, so a planning application comes first.

The paperwork the licence makes you keep

Once Ealing asks, a selective licence holder has seven days to produce four things: the gas certificate, a declaration that the wiring is safe, a report on the appliances supplied and a declaration covering supplied furniture. Records of the three visits a year are due within 28 days.

An HMO adds annual fire alarm, emergency lighting and PAT certificates, with the EICR at least every five years. We keep every certificate date in one diary, contact you before anything expires, and send each document as a PDF you can forward straight to the council.

Turning inspection findings into finished jobs

The three inspections a year produce a steady trickle of small items: a dripping trap, a loose stair rail, sealant gone black, a missing window restrictor, a fence panel down. Ealing's conditions also expect outbuildings, fences and boundary walls kept in good order and a lidded external bin for each letting. Forward the inspector's notes; we cost each item, group as many as we can into a single visit and send back dated photographs to file with the next record.

Which certificates a typical Northolt home needs

An interwar semi or Racecourse Estate house on mains gas needs a gas record renewed every twelve months, an electrical report no older than five years, an EPC of E or better, smoke alarms that work on each floor, a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a boiler, fire or stove burning fuel (gas cookers are excluded), and a written legionella assessment.

An all-electric flat drops the gas record. A licensed HMO adds the fire alarm, emergency lighting and annual PAT certificates. We carry out the EPC, EICR, gas, PAT and legionella work ourselves and can group it into a single visit; ask about the fire alarm and emergency lighting certificates when you book.

Ex-council flats: the lease still applies when you let

Ealing's handbook is blunt that a leaseholder who lets remains responsible for repairs, for paying service charges and major works, and for the tenant's behaviour, regardless of any arrangement with the tenant or an agent. It asks owners to give the home ownership team their contact and agent details, and it limits works to 8am to 5pm with no materials or waste left in communal areas.

Major works over the consultation threshold come with a Section 20 notice. We handle the inside of the flat and tell you clearly when a fault is the council's to fix.

Emergencies, and the 24-hour contact the licence requires

Ealing's selective conditions require you to give tenants an emergency 24-hour contact number with out-of-hours arrangements. Our phone line does not run through the night, so that number has to be yours or your agent's. What we offer is a same-day visit for urgent faults during opening hours from Monday to Saturday, with Sunday limited to genuine emergency calls.

Routine jobs are booked into a time slot, and for planned work in Northolt a few days' notice helps us fit the drive down Northolt Road around the rest of the day.

Official sources

• Ealing Council: types of property licences (mandatory, additional and selective, with ward lists)
• Ealing Council: selective licence conditions
• Ealing Council: designation of an area for additional HMO licensing 2022 (in force 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2027)
• Ealing Council: Have Your Say, HMO licensing consultation (closed 24 September 2026)
• Ealing.News, 28 July 2026: consultation on continuing additional licensing from April 2027
• Ealing Council: Article 4 direction removing C3 to C4 HMO permitted development, confirmed 11 July 2025, in force 14 November 2025
• Ealing Council: HMO Standards, April 2025 (fire doors, alarms, sockets, splashbacks, PAT, certificate table)
• Ealing Council: Homeowners' handbook for council leaseholders, October 2025 (repair responsibilities, fire doors, alterations, letting)

Last reviewed October 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.