HMO Conversions Holland Park

HMO conversion in Holland Park is a narrow line of work, and licensing drives it. With 81% of homes already flats, the buildings involved are a few whole houses and flats let to sharers. Kensington and Chelsea licenses every privately rented home where three or more people in two or more households share facilities, and its own HMO standards set room and kitchen sizes above the national minimum. The job is building a shared home to those standards.

In Holland Park, 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 Holland Park: 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 use classes for a shared house in Holland Park

The planning question for a Holland Park HMO turns on how many people will live there. The London Plan glossary defines HMOs for three to six people as Use Class C4 and HMOs for more than six people as Sui Generis. Class L of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 permits a change from C3 dwellinghouses to C4 as permitted development, but it does not allow one former house to become two or more separate C4 HMOs.

Permitted development can be removed locally. The London Plan says that when boroughs consider Article 4 directions affecting changes between C3 and C4, they should weigh the strategic as well as local importance of HMOs. Ask your planning adviser to confirm the current position for the Holland Park address before design starts. A shared house for seven or more occupants is sui generis and always needs planning permission, which the owner or their agent applies for.

Housing in Holland Park

Of the 4,280 homes the valuation list records in Holland Park, 67% were built before 1919, 4% between the wars and 28% since 1945; 81% are flats and 19% are houses.

Mandatory and Additional HMO licensing across Holland Park

Any shared let in Holland Park of three or more people in two or more households needs a licence. Mandatory HMO licensing in the borough covers HMOs with five or more occupiers forming more than one household. Kensington and Chelsea's Additional HMO licensing scheme, covering all HMOs outside the Mandatory scheme, was implemented on 1 June 2023. A purpose-built flat in a block of more than two self-contained flats falls under the Additional scheme instead of the Mandatory one, even with five sharers.

The landlord or their agent applies for the licence, and the property has to match what the application describes on the day it is inspected. GOV.UK says renting out an unlicensed HMO can lead to an unlimited fine. So the building work and the licence are planned together: we build the room layout, kitchens, bathrooms and fire precautions to the standard the licence sets, and provide the programme and the trade certificates that go with the application.

Room, kitchen and bathroom sizes in a Holland Park HMO

Kensington and Chelsea has adopted its own local HMO standards, above the national minimum, for three categories of HMO, and in Holland Park those standards decide how many letting rooms a house will hold. The council's guide for flats in multiple occupation and shared houses sets minimum sleeping rooms of 8.5 square metres for one person and 11 square metres for two. Under its shared house standard no room may be occupied by more than two persons, whatever their age. The national licence conditions sit beneath these: 6.51 square metres for one adult, 10.22 for two, and no sleeping room under 4.64 square metres.

Shared facilities have their own sizes. Kitchens in flats in multiple occupation and shared houses must be not less than 5.5 square metres. Where four or fewer people share, there must be at least one WC per four persons, no more than one floor from each user. The minimum bath is 1600mm x 700mm and the minimum shower 800mm x 800mm. We set these out on the survey drawings before any partition is built.

Fire safety, sound and keeping an existing Holland Park HMO

Fire safety is the heaviest part of an HMO build in a tall Holland Park house. Each letting room typically needs a fire door on a self-closer, the stair becomes a protected escape route, and linked smoke and heat detection covers the rooms, kitchen and circulation. Building regulations Part B, the council's HMO fire standards and the LACORS housing fire safety guidance together set the specification. Sound insulation between rooms and energy upgrades for the EPC follow the same opening-up.

Existing HMOs are protected in planning. Proposed main modification MM99 to policy HO1 protects HMOs unless the loss of the HMO or its rooms is for one of two stated reasons. The first is upgrading the HMO to meet the council's standards with some rooms lost; the second is a layout that cannot be upgraded to meet them. London Plan Policy H9 adds that HMOs of a reasonable standard should generally be protected. An upgrade in Holland Park is therefore planned to keep the use.

• En-suite shower rooms added to bedrooms
• Bedroom layouts checked against the national minimum room sizes
• Hot water sized for several sharers showering at once, with any gas work by a Gas Safe registered engineer

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

Work in Holland Park rarely sits on its own, so you may also want bathroom renovation in Holland Park, hmo conversions across Kensington and Chelsea, bathroom fitting in London, how snagging works at handover, hmo conversions across London and Small Bathroom Ideas.

Trusted HMO Conversions in Holland Park

You get a builder who plans the house around the licence from the first survey. We measure every room against the council's standards before anything is drawn, build the fire precautions, kitchens and bathrooms to the licence conditions, and hand over the trade certificates your licence application needs. The landlord or their agent holds the planning and licensing; we build to them. The founder brings decades of hands-on experience in period houses, where escape routes and old floors need the most care.

• Fire doors, closers and seals fitted to every door on the escape route
• Neighbours given notice before the noisy stages
• Kitchens and bathrooms counted against the council's amenity standard

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