Selective licensing schemes change on a weeks-to-months cadence — not annually, which is exactly why landlords get caught out.
Real example from our own council research: within a few weeks of one research pass, we found one council's scheme expiring with no announced renewal, another's going live, a third flipping over, and two more closing public consultations that could result in a new designation — all in the same month, across councils that are not neighbours or otherwise linked.
There's no single national register of these schemes; a landlord has to know to check their specific council, and “I checked two years ago and there wasn't one” is not a reliable answer today. Fines for operating an unlicensed property that requires a licence can run into the thousands, on top of rent-repayment-order exposure.
We keep a real, dated record of council licensing status — check yours free, see exactly when it was last verified.
Check my compliance — free Browse your council's page