HMO Conversions Fulham

HMO conversion in Fulham is licensing-led. Hammersmith and Fulham runs mandatory HMO, additional HMO and selective licensing, and the additional scheme is borough wide, so a shared house for as few as 3 people from 2 or more households needs a licence here. The work is turning a Fulham house into a well-run shared home, or bringing an existing HMO up to the council's amenity and fire standards: room sizes, kitchens, bathrooms, fire doors and alarms, built to the layout the landlord has licensed.

In Fulham, 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 Fulham: 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 a Fulham HMO: small shared houses and large ones

Planning follows the number of people. Class L permitted development allows a house to change from C3 to a C4 HMO, unless a local direction removes that right, but not to become two or more separate HMOs. The London Plan defines HMOs for three to six people as C4 and larger ones as Sui Generis. The council says that where 7 or more people live in an HMO, planning permission is needed as well as the licence.

Where permission is needed, Local Plan Policy HO8 judges a new HMO in Fulham on the quality of the accommodation, its impact on the locality and local need. The owner should also confirm with the council whether any direction removes the Class L right at the address before relying on it. The owner or their agent makes any application; we price and build to the layout that is approved, and not to a room count that may not be.

Housing in Fulham

The Council Tax list puts Fulham at about 24,310 homes, 76% flats against 24% houses; 58% went up before 1919, 4% between the wars and 39% after 1945.

Mandatory, additional and selective licensing for Fulham landlords

Licensing applies from three tenants forming two or more households. A mandatory HMO licence is needed where a property is rented to 5 or more people from 2 or more households who share facilities. Hammersmith and Fulham's additional HMO scheme is borough wide, renewed for 5 years from 5 June 2022, and covers 3 or 4 people from 2 or more households sharing facilities, including converted flats and Section 257 HMOs. So a Fulham house let as an HMO to 3 or more people needs one licence or the other.

Selective licensing adds a street layer: every rented house or flat on 24 named streets, including Fulham Road, New King's Road and Wandsworth Bridge Road. Section 257 licensing, for older buildings converted into flats, is restricted to buildings where none of the flats is owner-occupied, the leaseholders do not run the building and it is not on a selective licensing street. The landlord applies for the licence; we build the rooms, amenities and fire protection that its conditions require.

Room sizes, kitchens and bathrooms in a Fulham HMO

Room sizes decide how many people a Fulham HMO can be licensed for. The national minimums are mandatory licence conditions: 6.51 square metres for a room slept in by one adult, 10.22 for two, and no room under 4.64 square metres used for sleeping. The council's 2024 HMO amenity guidance confirms the adult minimums are statutory, with no discretion. On a Victorian terrace the small back bedroom and the box room over the stairs are the ones to measure first, because a room that falls short cannot be let as a bedroom however it is furnished.

One exception matters here: a flat in a purpose-built block of three or more self-contained flats falls outside mandatory licensing, although a council's additional scheme can still cover it.

Shared kitchens are set out in detail. Each needs a worktop of at least 1500 x 600 mm and four 13 amp power points at worktop level, plus a fire blanket fixed 1.5m from the floor. A house for 6 to 10 people needs 2 bathrooms and 2 WCs with wash hand basins, one of which can be within a bathroom. We plan the plumbing runs around those numbers before partitions go up, so a second bathroom is not squeezed in afterwards.

Fire safety, sound and energy in a Fulham shared house

Fire protection is the heart of an HMO conversion. A shared house in Fulham typically needs fire doors with self-closers to every bedroom and the kitchen, a protected escape route down the stairs, interlinked smoke and heat detection, and emergency lighting where the route is long or has no natural light. Part B governs the building work, the LACORS housing fire safety guide is the recognised reference, and the council's licence conditions and building control drawings set the detail for each house.

Sound and energy matter for letting. Sound insulation between bedrooms and the floors above them reduces complaints in a house with several separate lives. Where the letting needs an EPC, the MEES rules apply: since 1 April 2020 it cannot be let with an EPC rating below E without a valid exemption, and the council enforces that with a compliance notice and then a penalty. Insulation and heating controls are best added while the rooms are stripped for the fire works.

• Sound lining to bedroom walls and party walls
• En-suite shower rooms added to bedrooms
• Electrics extended to every bedroom, certified by a registered electrician

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 6 statistical areas in Fulham. Counts rounded by the VOA.

If you are weighing up hmo conversions in Fulham, it may help to read bathroom renovation in Fulham, hmo conversions across Hammersmith and Fulham, what a main building contractor does, how snagging works at handover, hmo conversions anywhere in London and House Rewire Cost.

Why Choose GS Renovation in Fulham

An HMO conversion is judged at inspection, so the build has to match the licence and the approved layout room by room. We measure every bedroom before a partition is built, run fire doors, detection and escape routes to the drawings, plumb kitchens and bathrooms to the council's amenity numbers, and hand over the certificates the landlord needs for the licence file. A registered electrician certifies the electrics, and a registered gas engineer does any gas work.

• Existing HMOs brought up to licence conditions, fire works first
• Free, no-obligation quotations
• 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).