HMO Conversions Welling

HMO conversion in Welling starts with a planning application, because Bexley's borough-wide Article 4 Direction on small houses in multiple occupation has been in force since 24 September 2017. That removes the national right to turn a family house into a small shared house without permission, and it applies in Welling as everywhere in the borough. We build HMOs for landlords once the owner has consent, and we upgrade existing shared houses to the room, kitchen, bathroom and fire standards Bexley licenses against.

In Welling, 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 Welling: 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.

Why every shared house in Welling needs planning permission

Across England, Class L of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 lets a house in Class C3 become a small HMO in Class C4 with no planning application. Welling sits outside that freedom. Bexley switched the right off everywhere in the borough with an Article 4 Direction in force since 24 September 2017, and its Design Guide SPD Part 2 says that since then all HMO proposals are subject to planning permission.

If the building is listed, the works themselves are a separate question: anything that affects its character, inside or out, needs listed building consent from Bexley Council, and carrying it out without consent is a criminal offence.

Bexley also advises anyone converting a property into an HMO to contact planning before starting works. For a Welling landlord, that makes the planning decision the first milestone and the building programme the second. An HMO for more than six people is sui generis in any borough, so it needs permission even where no Article 4 applies. We price the conversion from the approved drawings, so the rooms, fire doors and extra bathrooms in the consent are what we build.

Housing in Welling

Count the homes in the Welling statistical area and you get about 4,020: 18% built since 1945, 76% between the wars and 5% before 1919, with flats at 21% and houses at 78%.

Licensing a Welling HMO: mandatory, selective and none

A Welling HMO needs a mandatory licence once five or more people in two or more households live there, and Bexley applies that whatever the number of storeys. The national exception is a flat in a purpose-built block of three or more flats. Below that size, a three or four person shared house in Welling is usually outside Bexley's licensing altogether. Bexley states that a privately rented property outside a selective licensing area, including an HMO with fewer than five people, does not need a licence, and its selective scheme covers Belvedere Ward.

GOV.UK warns that a smaller HMO may need a licence depending on the council area, so it is worth confirming Bexley's position for your address before letting. The landlord applies for the licence; we build to the licence standards. For a five person shared house in Welling, that means the fire precautions, kitchen and bathroom counts and room sizes are complete, with the certificates in hand, on the day the licensing officer inspects the house.

Room sizes, kitchens and bathrooms Bexley sets for a Welling HMO

Bexley's HMO standards decide how many tenants a Welling house can take before a single wall moves. A sleeping room in a shared house needs 6.52m2 for one person or 10.23m2 for two. Those figures sit fractionally above the national minimums that are conditions of every mandatory HMO licence: 6.51m2 for one adult, 10.22m2 for two, and no sleeping room under 4.64m2. Where the room has its own kitchen facilities as a bedsit, the minimums rise to 12m2 and 15m2. Bexley's Rent it Right standards add a headroom test: at least 2.14m from floor to ceiling over 85% of each room.

Kitchens and bathrooms are counted per head. Bexley wants one full set of shared cooking facilities for every 5 persons, and once five or more people share, a bath or shower and a separate toilet for every five. The Design Guide also asks an HMO conversion for at least 5m2 of outdoor amenity space for 1 to 2 persons plus 1m2 per additional occupant, which the rear garden of a Welling semi can often provide.

Fire safety, sound and energy in a Welling shared house

Fire safety is the core of the building work in a Welling HMO. Each letting room normally gets a fire door with a self closer, the stair and landings become a protected escape route, and linked smoke and heat detection covers the rooms, the kitchen and the escape route. The LACORS housing fire safety guidance is the recognised guide, and building regulations Part B applies to the conversion work. With 76% of homes in the VOA's Welling statistical area built between 1919 and 1939, the stair is likely to be interwar timber, and its enclosure and doors are where the upgrade starts.

Sound between lettings matters as much as fire, since sharers keep different hours; we add insulation to the partitions and floors between rooms. Where the letting needs an EPC, GOV.UK says 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. Loft and floor insulation, draught stripping and heating controls the tenants can use are fitted while the rooms are open, so the new EPC reflects the work.

• Service holes sealed so each bedroom and the kitchen stay separate fire compartments
• Hot water sized for several sharers showering at once, with any gas work by a Gas Safe registered engineer
• Self-closing fire doors and frames to every bedroom and the kitchen

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for the Welling statistical area, one of several statistical areas covering DA16. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Related reading for Welling landlords planning hmo conversions: bathroom renovation in Welling, hmo conversions across Bexley, what a main building contractor does, what a kitchen fit covers, how we handle hmo conversions across London and House Rewire Cost.

Working With GS Renovation in Welling

We turn Welling houses into HMOs, and upgrade existing ones, as one contractor working to the consent and the licence standards. The rooms are set out to Bexley's sizes, the fire doors, detection and protected stair are fitted to the approved plan, and the kitchens and bathrooms are sized to the occupancy. The registered electrician we bring in certifies the installation and the alarm system. You get a written price after a site visit and a programme with the licensing inspection built into it.

• Article 4 and licence position checked before a room is priced
• Every bedroom measured against the national minimum room sizes
• Photographs kept at each stage for your records

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