HMO Conversions Hammersmith

HMO conversion in Hammersmith is shaped by licensing first. Hammersmith and Fulham runs mandatory HMO, additional HMO and selective licensing, and its additional scheme covers the whole borough, catching a house shared by just 3 or 4 people from 2 or more households. For landlords turning a W6 house into a shared house, or bringing an existing HMO up to licence standard, we build the bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms and fire protection the licence conditions and any planning consent require.

In Hammersmith, 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 Hammersmith: 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.

The three licensing schemes a Hammersmith HMO can fall under

A shared house in Hammersmith can need a licence with only three occupants. The additional HMO scheme is borough wide and was renewed for 5 years from 5 June 2022, and it applies where 3 or 4 people from 2 or more households share facilities. At 5 or more such people the mandatory HMO licence applies instead. Selective licensing is the council's third scheme, so check your street against its designation before assuming a house let outside the HMO rules needs no licence.

A building converted into flats can itself be licensable as a section 257 HMO, including under the additional scheme. The council restricts this 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. GOV.UK warns that renting out an unlicensed HMO can lead to an unlimited fine. The landlord or their agent applies for the licence, and we build to its conditions.

Housing in Hammersmith

Count the homes in Hammersmith and you get about 15,040: 34% built since 1945, 9% between the wars and 56% before 1919, with flats at 77% and houses at 23%.

When a Hammersmith HMO needs planning permission

Planning depends on how many people will live in the Hammersmith house. Class L of the General Permitted Development Order allows a change from a C3 dwellinghouse to a C4 HMO for three to six people as permitted development. It does not allow one house to be used as two or more separate C4 HMOs. Boroughs can remove that right with an Article 4 direction. The London Plan asks them to weigh the strategic as well as local importance of HMOs when they do, so confirm the position at your address.

Once 7 or more people live in the house, the council says planning permission for a change of use to an HMO is needed as well as the licence. Above six occupants an HMO falls outside Class C4 and is sui generis, as the London Plan glossary also records. Local Plan Policy HO8 then judges the scheme on accommodation quality, its impact on the locality and local need. London Plan Policy H9 asks boroughs to protect HMOs of a reasonable standard, which can matter if you later want the house back in single use.

Hammersmith HMO amenity standards for kitchens and bathrooms

The council's 2024 HMO amenity guidance sets the equipment before the plumbing is drawn. Each shared kitchen needs a worktop of at least 1500 x 600 mm, four 13 amp sockets at worktop level and a fire blanket fixed 1.5m from the floor. A Hammersmith HMO for 6 to 10 people needs 2 bathrooms and 2 WCs with wash hand basins, and one of those WCs can be inside a bathroom. Those counts fix where the new soil stacks and waste runs go.

Bedroom sizes follow the national minimum sleeping room sizes, which are mandatory licence conditions in England, and the council's guidance says there is no discretion on adult bedrooms. The national conditions are 6.51 square metres for one person over 10 and 10.22 square metres for two. The council's guidance mentions 4.5 square metres for a room used only by a child under 10, but no room under 4.64 square metres may be used for sleeping in a licensed HMO, so we build to at least 4.64. In a Hammersmith terrace the smallest rear rooms and box rooms are measured first, since they decide how many lettable rooms the house really has. We build the partitions, kitchens and bathrooms to the room schedule on the licence application, so the inspection finds the house as described.

Mandatory licensing does not reach a flat in a purpose-built block of three or more self-contained flats; where such a flat is shared, it is the council's additional scheme, if any, that applies.

Fire protection, sound and energy in a Hammersmith shared house

Fire safety is the core of the build in a Hammersmith HMO. Each bedroom gets a fire door with a self closer onto a protected escape route, the stair and hall are enclosed so occupants can get out past a fire, and an interlinked detection and alarm system covers every room. The LACORS housing fire safety guidance is the recognised reference for the grade of alarm and the escape route, alongside Part B of the building regulations where building work is involved.

Sound between lettings matters more when strangers share a house, so partitions between bedrooms get acoustic insulation and floors over bedrooms get a resilient layer. Energy is the other licence and letting test. Since 1 April 2020 a landlord cannot let or continue to let a property covered by the MEES Regulations with an EPC below E without a valid exemption, and Hammersmith and Fulham enforces this with a compliance notice and then a penalty. We add insulation and heating controls while walls and floors are open.

• Self-closing fire doors and frames to every bedroom and the kitchen
• Extra shared bathrooms and shower rooms
• Shared kitchens enlarged or added for the number of occupants

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Hammersmith Broadway, Brook Green, Ravenscourt Park North and Ravenscourt Park South. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Once you know the scope of the hmo conversions in Hammersmith, it helps to read bathroom renovation in Hammersmith, hmo conversions across Hammersmith and Fulham, how building control works in London, kitchen fitting in London, how we handle hmo conversions across London and Renovation Budget & Contingency.

Why Choose GS Renovation in Hammersmith

An HMO in Hammersmith is judged at the licence inspection, so the build has to match the room schedule, the amenity counts and the fire strategy exactly. We price from the scheme after a survey, build the fire doors, alarms, kitchens and bathrooms in one programme, and hand over the certificates the landlord's application needs. You have one contact throughout. Electrical and alarm work is certified by a registered electrician, and gas work is done by a registered gas engineer.

• Article 4 and licence position checked before a room is priced
• Detection laid out to the grade the council's HMO fire guidance sets
• One point of contact on the phone, not a call centre

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