HMO Conversions Coulsdon

An HMO conversion in Coulsdon needs planning consent before it needs builders. Croydon's Article 4 direction came into place on 28 January 2020, and since then a new shared house for 3 to 6 people has needed planning consent. Smaller HMOs across the borough also come under Croydon's Additional HMO licensing, which began on 25 September 2026. The landlord or their agent handles the consent and the licence, and we build the rooms, kitchens, bathrooms and fire safety to the standard the licence expects.

In Coulsdon, 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 Coulsdon: 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 consent for a Coulsdon HMO under Croydon's Article 4

In Coulsdon, as across Croydon, the permitted development route for a small HMO is closed. The national right, Class L, lets a C3 dwellinghouse become a C4 house in multiple occupation without an application. Croydon's Article 4 direction takes it away: a 3 to 6 person HMO set up after 28 January 2020 needs planning consent. An HMO for 7 or more has needed consent for far longer, separately from the direction, and the London Plan classes it as sui generis.

Planning status feeds straight into licensing in Coulsdon. When it licenses an HMO, Croydon looks at whether the use has planning consent, and a house without it may be refused or given a short licence, commonly of one year. Under Policy DM10.1 the council also weighs noise, refuse collection and extra car parking when an HMO is proposed. We price the build from the drawings the owner's designer submits, and start once consent is in place, so the building and the paperwork line up.

Housing in Coulsdon

On the valuation list Coulsdon counts about 7,540 homes, 27% flats and 73% houses; 8% predate 1919, 30% are interwar and 62% post-war.

Mandatory and Additional HMO licensing for Coulsdon landlords

Every HMO in Coulsdon now needs a licence of one kind or another. A house shared by 5 or more people not living as a single household, using common facilities, sits under the Mandatory HMO Licensing Scheme. Below that, Croydon's Additional HMO licensing has covered the whole borough since 25 September 2026, catching any let where 3 or more people make up 2 or more households. Croydon decided on 9 July 2026 to push that start back from 1 September 2026.

An Additional licence normally lasts 5 years, less where Croydon has concerns about compliance or management. Letting an HMO without the licence it needs risks an unlimited fine, according to GOV.UK. The landlord applies for the licence, and the licence sets conditions on rooms, amenities and fire safety. We build to those conditions, and where a house is already let as an HMO we can carry out the upgrades an inspection identifies.

Room sizes, kitchens and bathrooms in a Coulsdon HMO

Croydon's bedsit HMO standards fix the layout of a Coulsdon HMO before a wall is moved. Every habitable room, bathroom and WC must reach 2.3m from floor to ceiling, and a bedroom sleeps 2 persons at most. A room carved out by partitions just to reach 10m2 is refused where its shape or layout does not work. National minimums also apply as licence conditions: 6.51 square metres for one adult, 10.22 for two, and no sleeping in a room under 4.64 square metres, which is why we measure each room on the drawings rather than on site.

Amenities follow the number of occupants. Croydon's bedsit standards cap a shared kitchen at 5 users and wants it no more than a floor away from their rooms, so a house for more than five usually gets a second kitchen. Bathrooms work on ratios, with 2 needed for 6 to 10 persons, each no more than a floor from its users. Once 6 or more share, every letting also gets a wash-hand basin of its own.

Fire safety, sound and energy in a Coulsdon shared house

Fire safety is the core of the build in a Coulsdon HMO. Among the measures Croydon can ask of an HMO is interlinked, mains wired fire detection through the whole house. With it go self-closing fire doors to bedrooms and kitchens, a protected stair to the front door, and fire stopping wherever pipes and cables pass. The LACORS guide on housing fire safety sets the usual benchmark, while the building regulations, Part B for fire, govern the construction work.

Sound and energy matter for tenants who live side by side. Bedrooms against bedrooms, with insulated stud walls and upgraded ceilings, cut complaints between lettings. The energy rating counts too: Croydon states it is unlawful to rent out a domestic property rated F or G unless an exemption applies, and it gives a discount off part of the licence fee where the EPC is B or above. Insulation and heating upgrades belong in the same programme.

• Hard-wearing floors, finishes and decoration for a let house
• Protected escape routes through the hall, stair and landings
• Separate WCs and wash basins to the amenity standard

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Coulsdon and Old Coulsdon. Counts rounded by the VOA.

If you are weighing up hmo conversions in Coulsdon, it may help to read bathroom renovation in Coulsdon, hmo conversions across Croydon, what a main building contractor does, what a snagging list covers, our London hmo conversions page and Renovation Budget & Contingency.

Trusted HMO Conversions in Coulsdon

An HMO has to satisfy planning, the licence and the building regulations at once, and the drawings, the build and the inspection all have to agree. We build to the approved layout and the licence standards, coordinate the registered electrician and the fire alarm installer, and fit fire doors, detection and fire stopping before finishes cover them. You get a written programme showing when each room is ready, and one contact to answer the licensing officer's building questions.

• One point of contact from first survey to handover
• Kitchens and bathrooms counted against the council's amenity standard
• Finished and snagged before the council's licence inspection

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