HMO Conversions Clerkenwell

HMO conversion in Clerkenwell is more likely to involve a flat than a family house. The VOA count gives 96% of homes as flats and only 4% as houses, so the usual job is laying out a flat in a block or a converted building for sharers. The other is upgrading an existing shared house to meet Islington's licensing standards. Islington has no planning restriction on a family home becoming an HMO for fewer than seven sharers, but its additional licensing reaches flats with just three sharers, and its HMO standards fix the room and kitchen sizes we build to.

If the building is listed, the works themselves are a separate question: anything that affects its character, inside or out, needs listed building consent from Islington Council, and carrying it out without consent is a criminal offence.

In Clerkenwell, 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 Clerkenwell: 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.

No HMO Article 4 in Clerkenwell, but seven sharers need permission

Islington, which covers Clerkenwell, says there are currently no planning restrictions on using a family home as an HMO for fewer than seven people sharing facilities. Nationally, Class L of the General Permitted Development Order allows a change from C3 to C4 as permitted development, and the London Plan glossary places HMOs for three to six people in Use Class C4. Seven or more sharers is a different matter. Islington says that needs planning permission, and the London Plan glossary classes an HMO for more than six people as sui generis.

Class L has limits of its own. It does not allow a building previously used as one C3 dwellinghouse to become two or more separate C4 HMOs, so a Clerkenwell terrace cannot be split into two shared flats under permitted development. Islington Policy H10 supports new small-scale HMOs where they cause no significant harm to neighbours' amenity, and the owner or their agent should confirm the planning position before we price the layout.

Housing in Clerkenwell

Around 7,790 homes make up Clerkenwell on the valuation list; 96% are flats and 4% houses, and 26% date from before 1919, 6% from between the wars and 65% from after 1945.

Islington licensing reaches shared flats in Clerkenwell blocks

Licensing is broader than planning, and it matters in a place where 96% of homes are flats. Islington's mandatory licensing covers any house or flat with 5 or more unrelated people in 2 or more households sharing a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. Its additional licensing covers houses or flats let to 3 or 4 unrelated people in 2 or more households, including flats in a purpose-built block that fall outside mandatory licensing.

So a three-bedroom flat in a Clerkenwell block, let room by room to three unrelated sharers, needs a licence, and the lease may restrict sharing too. Additional licensing also covers buildings converted into self-contained flats where the conversion does not meet the Building Regulations 1991 and all flats are tenanted under one ownership, the section 257 HMOs. The landlord applies for the licence, and we build to the standards it will be checked against.

Room and kitchen sizes for a shared Clerkenwell flat

Islington's HMO standards set the plan of a shared Clerkenwell flat before any furniture goes in. Where the kitchen is a separate shared room, a bedroom for one person must be at least 8 square metres and one for two persons 11 square metres. The shared kitchen grows with the household: 5.5 square metres for up to 3 people, 7.5 for 4 to 5, and 9.5 for 6 to 7, with a separate kitchen for every 5 residents. The national licence minimums are smaller: 6.51 square metres for one person over 10, 10.22 for two, and no sleeping room under 4.64. Islington's figures are the ones to design to.

Ceiling height is the other limit, and it can bite in a Clerkenwell warehouse loft with a mezzanine. The standards require a floor to ceiling height of at least 2.1m over 50% of the floor area, so a sleeping deck squeezed into a double-height room may not count. Bathrooms and toilets need a clear area of 700mm by 700mm outside the bath or shower. We check the measured survey against these figures first, then set out partitions and sanitary fittings.

Fire doors, alarms and escape in a Clerkenwell HMO

Fire safety is the largest part of most HMO works in Clerkenwell, because sharers sleep behind separate doors off one escape route. The recognised guide is the LACORS housing fire safety guidance, applied with Part B of the building regulations and the council's own HMO fire standards. In practice that means fire doors with self-closers to each bedroom and the kitchen, a protected route to the exit, and interlinked detection and alarms sized to the building.

In a flat within a block, the flat entrance door and the common parts are usually for the freeholder or responsible person, so we agree the scope with them before work starts. Inside the flat we upgrade ceilings and partitions where the route needs protecting, fire stop around pipes and cables, and fit the alarm system for commissioning by the installer. Sound insulation between bedrooms is best added at the same time, while walls are open.

• Service holes sealed so each bedroom and the kitchen stay separate fire compartments
• Thumb-turn bedroom locks that open from inside without a key
• Interlinked smoke and heat alarms, mains-wired and graded to the council's HMO fire guidance

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Clerkenwell. Counts rounded by the VOA.

For the wider picture around hmo conversions in Clerkenwell, see bathroom renovation in Clerkenwell, hmo conversions across Islington, how building control works in London, what a snagging list covers, how we handle hmo conversions across London and House Rewire Cost.

Working With GS Renovation in Clerkenwell

An HMO has to pass the licence inspection as well as look right, so we build to the standard from the first set out. We run the job as one programme, measure each room and kitchen against Islington's figures before partitions go up, and coordinate the fire doors, alarm commissioning and the registered electrician's certificates. The landlord or their agent holds the licence application; we give them the room measurements, the certificates and the completion evidence it needs.

• Honest updates if a date or a detail has to move
• Kitchens and bathrooms counted against the council's amenity standard
• 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).