What we check
We keep a record of each council's own licensing of privately rented homes in England and Wales: selective licensing, which can cover any let; additional licensing, which covers house shares; licensing of converted blocks of flats; and, in England, Article 4 directions, which mean turning a home into a small house share needs planning permission first. We also keep any consultation a council is holding on a new selective or additional licensing scheme. A house share of 5 or more people needs an HMO licence wherever it is - in Wales, if it's on 3 or more storeys - so we give that as the rule for the whole of England or Wales.
Whose pages we read, and how often
We read each council's own website and nothing else: its licensing page, the pages that page links to about licensing, the pages its own site map lists about licensing schemes or private renting, and the pages behind each scheme and consultation we already hold - up to 8 pages each time. A page on any other website, or one that sends us off the council's own, is never used. We read 12 councils each night, so every council is read again about once a month.
How the reading works
A computer program fetches those pages and an AI model reads them. It's told to answer from the council's pages alone, and to treat whatever they say as evidence, never as an instruction. It answers in a fixed form: each scheme's kind, the day it starts, the day it ends, where it applies and the council page that says so, and each open consultation with the day it closes. Before anything is kept, that answer must pass the rules below.
When a council's pages are clear enough
The AI model is told to give an answer only when the council's own pages state, for every scheme it runs, what kind of scheme it is, the day it starts, the day it ends or how long it runs - an Article 4 direction has no end - and where it applies. If the council's current pages disagree, a start or an end is missing, or a page still calls a scheme current after the end it gives, it gives no answer that round: we keep what we already hold and read the council again on its next round.
The rules a reading must pass
Even then, a reading is turned down, and the council keeps what we hold, if it leaves out a scheme we hold that hasn't ended - in force or still to start - unless a scheme of the same kind now in force covers the whole council; gives a licensing scheme no end, or an end on or before its start; gives an Article 4 direction an end, or names one in Wales, where a small house share already needs planning permission; names a ward that isn't in the council; or points to a page off the council's own websites. A consultation with no closing day, or one breaking these rules, is left out. A scheme a council withdraws before it starts is taken out by hand.
When a council's pages stay unclear
If we can't accept a council's reading for a while, we're told before its record goes out of date, and we read the council's own notices and decisions by hand and update its record ourselves. Each card and council page shows the day we last checked the council; once that day is too long ago, it says the council is due for a fresh check.
How a scheme is placed at a home
We place a home in its council and ward using the Office for National Statistics' open record of where each address lies - by the home's own entry, or by every home at its postcode where we can't tell which one it is. A scheme covering the whole council covers every home in it. A scheme drawn on wards covers a home in those wards. Where we hold a map of a scheme's area, or the council's list of its streets, a home inside the map's line, or on a listed street by its own address, is covered. Where we can't be sure - the homes at a postcode fall in more than one ward or council, the home lies within 20 metres of a scheme's edge, the council has since redrawn its wards, or a scheme is drawn some other way - we don't guess: the card says so and asks you to check the address with the council. We show a licensing scheme from 12 months before it starts, an Article 4 direction once it's confirmed, and a consultation until the day it closes.
What we can't yet say
We can't see whether a home is let, or whether a licence is already held for it, so the card answers for every kind of let at once and never says a licence is missing. A few councils aren't in our record yet - their card says so and asks you to check with the council. A scheme a council has just made reaches us when we next read its pages, so it can take about a month to show. We don't show licence fees. We cover England and Wales only. In every case the council has the final say.
Tell us if we're wrong
If a scheme is missing, out of date or placed at the wrong homes, email hi@owlsby.com with the council or the address and, if you have it, the council's page that shows it. We check it against the council's own pages and put our record right.
Who answers for this data
Lumman Ltd, the company that operates Owlsby, answers for this data. Its registered details are on our Company information page. Nobody can pay to change what we find.