HMO Conversions Shepherd's Bush

An HMO conversion in Shepherd's Bush turns a house into shared accommodation for unrelated tenants, or brings an existing shared house up to licensing standard. Hammersmith and Fulham runs three property licensing schemes, mandatory HMO, additional HMO and selective licensing, and its additional scheme is borough wide. Houses are only 12% of homes in the VOA statistical areas covering Shepherd's Bush and White City, so this page also covers flats let to sharers, which the additional scheme can bring into licensing. The landlord applies for the licence, and we build to its standards.

In Shepherd's Bush, 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 Shepherd's Bush: 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.

Which Shepherd's Bush lettings need an HMO licence

A mandatory HMO licence is needed where a property is rented to 5 or more people from 2 or more households who share facilities. Below that, Hammersmith and Fulham's additional HMO licensing scheme, renewed for 5 years from 5 June 2022, covers 3 or 4 people from 2 or more households sharing facilities, including converted flats and Section 257 HMOs. In Shepherd's Bush that means a flat shared by three friends can need a licence just as a large shared house does, so the licence type is settled before the layout.

Section 257 HMOs are buildings converted into self-contained flats where the conversion did not meet the building regulations that applied and still does not. Their licensing is restricted to buildings where none of the flats is owner-occupied, the building is not run by its leaseholders and it is not on a selective licensing street. A Shepherd's Bush conversion bought whole and let flat by flat can fall into that group, which brings fire and amenity standards across the whole building, including the shared stair and hall, not only inside each flat. Renting out an unlicensed HMO can lead to an unlimited fine.

Housing in Shepherd's Bush

Shepherd's Bush counts roughly 13,640 homes for Council Tax; 53% are older than 1919, 17% interwar and 29% post-war, with 87% flats and 12% houses.

Planning permission for a shared house in Shepherd's Bush

Class L of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 permits a change from a C3 house to a C4 HMO, for three to six people, as permitted development. That right can be removed by an Article 4 direction, and the London Plan asks boroughs weighing such a direction to consider the strategic as well as local importance of HMOs. Before buying a Shepherd's Bush house for sharing, you or your agent confirm with the council whether a direction covers the address. Class L does not allow one house to become two or more separate C4 HMOs.

Above six people the use is sui generis. The council says that if 7 or more people live in an HMO, planning permission for the change of use is needed as well as the licence. Local Plan Policy HO8 judges new HMOs on accommodation quality, impact on the locality and local need, so an application for a large Shepherd's Bush HMO has to show good rooms and shared space, not only a count of beds. The London Plan also says HMOs of a reasonable standard should generally be protected.

Room sizes, kitchens and bathrooms in a Shepherd's Bush HMO

Adult bedroom minimums in an HMO are statutory, and the council's 2024 HMO amenity guidance says there is no discretion on them. Since 1 October 2018 every mandatory licence has required at least 6.51 square metres for one person over 10 and 10.22 square metres for two. No room under 4.64 square metres may be used for sleeping, whoever occupies it. In a Shepherd's Bush terrace, the box room over the front door and a divided rear bedroom are the rooms most likely to fall short, so we measure every room before you decide how many lettings the house can hold. Partitions that split a room are set out to the measured minimums, not to the furniture.

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.

HMO kitchens must have 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. An HMO for 6 to 10 people needs 2 bathrooms and 2 WCs with wash hand basins, one of which can be within a bathroom. Those numbers fix the plumbing in a Shepherd's Bush conversion: where the second bathroom goes, how the soil stack is reached, and how big the shared kitchen must be.

Fire safety, sound and energy in Shepherd's Bush shared houses

Fire safety is the core of an HMO build. LACORS housing fire safety guidance is the recognised guide, and it sets out the fire doors with self-closers on each bedroom and the kitchen, interlinked smoke and heat detection, and a protected escape route down the stair to the front door. Building regulations Part B applies to the building work itself. In a timber-floored Shepherd's Bush house, fire stopping around pipes and cables through the floors is checked before ceilings are closed, and emergency lighting is added where the licence asks for it.

Tenants in separate lettings hear each other through stud partitions, so we add sound insulation to new stud walls between bedrooms and under floors above them. Energy is the other licence issue: since 1 April 2020 landlords cannot let or continue to let a property covered by the MEES Regulations with an EPC below E without a valid exemption. The council enforces that with a compliance notice and a penalty. A Shepherd's Bush HMO build is the time to renew heating controls, insulation and glazing.

• En-suite shower rooms added to bedrooms
• Service holes sealed so each bedroom and the kitchen stay separate fire compartments
• Sound lining to bedroom walls and party walls

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Shepherd's Bush North, Shepherd's Bush West, Shepherd's Bush South and White City. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Once the hmo conversions work in Shepherd's Bush is scoped, people usually go on to read bathroom renovation in Shepherd's Bush, hmo conversions across Hammersmith and Fulham, bathroom fitting in London, kitchen fitting in London, our London hmo conversions page and Kitchen Renovation Cost.

Trusted HMO Conversions in Shepherd's Bush

An HMO has to satisfy the licence, the fire guidance and building control at once, and a missed item delays the letting. We build from the room schedule and the licence conditions you or your agent give us, measure rooms before partitions go up, and programme the fire doors, detection and extra bathrooms as separate priced items. Abdelaaziz Saaid, the founder and director, walks the house before pricing. A registered electrician certifies the electrics and alarm circuits, and a registered gas engineer does any gas work.

• Free, no-obligation quotations
• 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).