HMO Conversions Camberwell

HMO conversion in Camberwell means turning a house into a shared home for unrelated tenants, or bringing an existing HMO up to licence standard. The pool of houses is small, since 15% of Camberwell homes are houses, but Southwark licenses HMOs across the whole borough and sets its own room, kitchen and bathroom standards. We build to those standards and to the licence conditions: letting rooms, shared kitchens and bathrooms, fire doors, detection and escape routes. The landlord or their agent applies for the licence.

In Camberwell, a light HMO conversion for four to six tenants typically costs £40,000 to £75,000 in construction, or £90,000 to £150,000 with an en-suite to every bedroom (indicative London ranges, Mayfair Studio and LetCompliance, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Camberwell: we build the fire doors, detection, bathrooms and kitchens to the council's HMO standards, the landlord applies for the licence, and a registered electrician certifies the electrics.

Planning for a Camberwell house to HMO change

Class L of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 permits a change from a dwellinghouse (C3) to a small HMO (C4) as permitted development, and the London Plan glossary defines C4 as an HMO for three to six people. So a Camberwell house let to four or five sharers can often change use without a planning application. Southwark says planning permission is needed to let a property as an HMO to 7 or more people, or for any HMO in an Article 4 direction area.

Southwark's HMO Article 4 directions include one for Henshaw Street, SE17, and one for Bywater Place, Surrey Docks, SE16, both outside the SE5 district that Camberwell covers. Check the council's current list for the exact address before buying or starting work. Class L also does not permit a house previously used as one dwelling to become two or more separate C4 HMOs. An HMO for more than six people is sui generis and needs a planning application, which the owner or their agent makes.

Housing in Camberwell

Roughly 13,560 dwellings sit on the valuation list for Camberwell. 15% are houses and 85% flats, and by age 34% predate 1919, 7% are interwar and 56% post-war.

Mandatory, additional and selective licensing around Camberwell

GOV.UK defines a large HMO as one rented to 5 or more people who form more than 1 household, and that needs a mandatory licence. Southwark's additional licensing designation for houses in multiple occupation came into force on 1 March 2022, covers the entire borough, and ceases to have effect on 1 March 2027 unless revoked earlier, so check whether it has been renewed. It covers HMOs let to a maximum of 4 people who share bathrooms or kitchens.

The mandatory scheme stops short of flats in purpose-built blocks of three or more self-contained flats, which only an additional licensing scheme can catch.

That means a small shared house in Camberwell needs a licence as well as the larger ones. Camberwell Green ward also sits in Southwark's selective licensing designations 3 and 4, but those cover other private lets; an HMO is licensed under the HMO schemes. GOV.UK says renting out an unlicensed HMO can lead to an unlimited fine. The works a licence calls for are best built in during the conversion, not added after an inspection.

Southwark room, kitchen and bathroom standards for a Camberwell HMO

Southwark's HMO Standards set a minimum of 10 square metres for a single letting room and 14 square metres for a double room where the kitchen is in a separate room. Those sit above the national mandatory licence minimums of 6.51 square metres for one adult and 10.22 for two, and no room under 4.64 square metres may be used for sleeping. Rooms should also have a minimum ceiling height of 2.3 metres over at least half of the habitable floor area. In a Camberwell terrace that usually rules out the smallest back bedroom and some attic rooms as lettings, and it fixes the room count before any partition goes up.

Where tenants cannot have their own facilities, the standards ask for one bathroom or shower room, one toilet and one wash hand basin for every 5 occupants, and one set of kitchen facilities for every 5 occupants. Southwark Plan 2022 Policy P9 adds that a new HMO needs communal indoor and outdoor space, refuse and recycling storage and one cycle parking space per occupant. Bathrooms stacked over each other keep the drainage simple and the programme short.

Fire safety, sound and energy in a Camberwell shared house

Fire safety is the core of an HMO conversion in Camberwell. The escape route, usually the hall and stair, is protected with fire-resisting walls and ceilings, and each letting room and the kitchen get fire doors with self-closers. An interlinked detection and alarm system covers the rooms and the route out. The standard is set by building regulations Part B where building work is done, the council's HMO fire standards, and the LACORS housing fire safety guidance.

Sound matters more in a shared house than in a family home, because each room is a separate letting. Insulation in the floors and walls between rooms, solid core doors and quieter plumbing runs cut complaints. Energy is a letting requirement too: Southwark states it is illegal for a domestic landlord to let a property with an EPC rating of F or G. Heating, controls and insulation go in while the house is stripped.

• Shared kitchens enlarged or added for the number of occupants
• Snagging before the council's licence inspection
• Emergency lighting on the escape route where the house needs it

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Camberwell North, Camberwell Green and Camberwell South. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Two or three things usually come up alongside hmo conversions on a Camberwell job: bathroom renovation in Camberwell, hmo conversions across Southwark, what a main building contractor does, what a snagging list covers, hmo conversions across London and Central Heating Installation Cost.

The GS Renovation Difference in Camberwell

An HMO conversion is inspected against a licence and a set of written standards, so the builder has to read them before the first wall moves. We set out the letting rooms against Southwark's sizes, build the protected escape route, fit the fire doors and alarm system through a registered electrician, and add the extra kitchens and bathrooms the occupancy needs. You get a written room schedule and programme your agent can use for the licence application, and a single contact on site.

• Site left safe and secure at the end of every day
• En-suites placed only where a soil stack can serve them
• Detection laid out to the grade the council's HMO fire guidance sets

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254).