HMO Conversions Teddington

An HMO conversion in Teddington turns a family house into a shared house for unrelated tenants, or brings an existing HMO up to the standard its licence demands. With 51% of homes here being houses and 40% built before 1919, the buildings that suit it are larger period houses with enough rooms and a stair that can be protected. Richmond requires planning permission once seven or more people live in an HMO, and a licence from five people in two or more households. We build the rooms, kitchens, bathrooms and fire protection to the layout the licence and any consent are based on.

In Teddington, 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 Teddington: 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 for a shared house in Teddington

Shared houses follow separate rules from self-contained flats in Teddington. Class L of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 permits a change from a C3 dwellinghouse to a C4 house in multiple occupation without an application, but it does not allow one house to become two or more separate C4 HMOs. The London Plan glossary puts HMOs for three to six people in Use Class C4 and HMOs for more than six people in the Sui Generis class.

Richmond says planning permission is required for HMOs occupied by seven or more people, so a large Teddington house planned for seven tenants needs an application before work starts. An Article 4 direction can remove the Class L right, and the London Plan asks boroughs weighing one to consider the strategic as well as local importance of HMOs, so check the current position for your address with Richmond. Richmond offers 90-minute in-depth HMO pre-application advice, which is worth booking before the layout is fixed.

Housing in Teddington

Teddington has around 11,670 homes on the Council Tax list: 47% post-war, 13% interwar and 40% predate 1919, with 49% flats and 51% houses.

HMO licensing and what it means for a Teddington building job

Richmond requires an HMO licence where a house or flat in Teddington has five or more occupiers forming two or more separate households who share amenities, which is the mandatory licence. GOV.UK defines an HMO as a property rented out by at least 3 people who are not from 1 household but share facilities such as the bathroom and kitchen. It also says a smaller HMO may still need a licence depending on the council area. Renting out an unlicensed HMO can lead to an unlimited fine.

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.

The landlord or their agent applies for the licence, and the council sets conditions on room sizes, amenities and fire safety. We build to those conditions, so the licence layout drawing is the document the job is priced from. Where you are upgrading an existing Teddington HMO to renew or apply for a licence, we work through the council's list of required works room by room and hand back photographs and certificates for the file.

Richmond's HMO amenity standards applied to a Teddington house

Richmond publishes Minimum Amenities Standards for Houses in Multiple Occupation 2020 and says they are minimums, not the ideal state, which is the right way to plan a Teddington scheme. A shared kitchen needs at least 7 m2, or 11 m2 as a kitchen/diner, with a worktop of at least 1500 x 600 mm, or 1000 x 600mm for single occupier accommodation. A living room needs 11m2, or 18m2 where kitchen and living space are combined.

Where a bedsit has its own kitchen facilities, Richmond adds 3.5m2 to the minimum bedroom sizes, and any floor under a ceiling lower than 1.5m does not count. Mandatory licence conditions add the national minimums: 6.51 square metres for one adult, 10.22 for two, and no sleeping room under 4.64 square metres. In a Victorian Teddington house that rules out the low part of an attic room and makes the old back addition a candidate for the shared kitchen. We check each room against the standards on the drawing before we price, so no room is built that the licence will not accept.

Fire safety, sound and energy in a Teddington HMO

Fire protection is often the largest part of an HMO conversion in Teddington. The escape stair is enclosed and protected, bedroom and kitchen doors become self-closing fire doors, and a mains-powered, interlinked detection and alarm system covers the rooms and escape route. Part B of the Building Regulations, the council's HMO fire standards and the LACORS housing fire safety guidance set the level, which rises with the number of storeys and occupants. Fire stopping goes around every pipe and cable through a floor.

Sound between lettings matters too, because tenants keep different hours, so we insulate the floors and walls between bedrooms where the scheme calls for it. The energy rules apply to an HMO as to any let home: since 1 April 2020 landlords can no longer let or continue to let properties covered by the MEES Regulations with an EPC rating below E without a valid exemption. Insulation and heating work fit best into the same programme.

• Small HMO conversions for three to six sharers
• Insulation and heating upgrades toward the minimum EPC for letting
• Separate WCs and wash basins to the amenity standard

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Teddington North, Teddington Central and Hampton Wick & Teddington East. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Related reading for Teddington landlords planning hmo conversions: bathroom renovation in Teddington, hmo conversions across Richmond upon Thames, bathroom fitting in London, how snagging works at handover, hmo conversions anywhere in London and Small Bathroom Ideas.

The GS Renovation Difference in Teddington

An HMO job is built to a licence and often to a planning consent, so the order of work and the paperwork matter. We price from the licence layout and the council's standards, programme the fire protection and inspections so they are seen before linings close, and keep a photographic record of fire stopping for the file. You get a written quote after a site visit, with the fire works, the amenity upgrades and the finishes shown as separate lines, so you can see where the cost of compliance sits.

• Finished and snagged before the council's licence inspection
• Building control applications and inspections coordinated for you
• 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).