Basic info - What is an HMO ?

In a nutshell the definition of an HMO is as follows :-

Your home is a house in multiple occupation (HMO) if both of the following apply: at least 3 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household. you share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants. 

See the full definition on the gov.uk website. 

If you are out and about in Streatham Vale, look out for houses with those big sets of doorbells !

One way to create an HMO is to convert family homes into houses with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities with separate bedrooms. At the time of writing (May 2023) it is still relatively cheap for developers to buy small family homes in Streatham Vale and convert them into smaller HMO's compared to other parts of Lambeth.

This coupled with Lambeth Council's current light touch approach to HMO's and neighbouring boroughs having more scrutiny on HMO's makes Streatham Vale a hotspot for HMO's.

At the time of writing (May 2023) , developers do NOT generally need planning permission for some types of HMO's in Lambeth. 

This means a developer does not need permission to convert a 3 bedroom property in Streatham Vale for the "Smaller" type of HMO catering for 6 bedrooms. 

This is a generalisation of course, as there are conservation areas, sizes of extensions to bear in mind  and so forth, but as a broad guide they tend to choose 3 bed houses to convert that do not need planning permission. 

See full information on the Lambeth Council Website regarding planning permission and HMO's.

At the time of writing (May 2023)  there are quite a few requirements Lambeth Council require to be followed with regards to size of rooms, number of bathrooms , safety features  etc. Lambeth Council maintain this on there website here.

Because of these requirements, more often than not a developer will more than often or not need to add a ground floor extension at the rear of the property, and add a loft extension. This is not always the case, and of course some homes often already have one or both types of extension.

We think most residents would consider adding a loft extension and a ground floor extension to cater for 6 or more residents quite a change to a neighbouring family home.

However this generally requires no planning permission as long as the works fit within Lambeth's "Permitted Development" (PD) which is quite complex, you can read about those guidelines here. 

As a simple example, as long as the ground floor extension extends no more than 3m it can be done under PD. The extension's are often required to satisfy the size requirements of the rooms as per Lambeth's guidelines (See above). 

Yes they can, and yes they are. Developers appear to be choosing 3 bed family houses in Streatham Vale for HMO's in greater numbers as they offer the following :-

• Ease / speed of conversion to 6 bed HMO from a planning point of view.
• Good value.
• Good location.
• Not much the community can do right now.

Yes, in Lambeth they have enhanced licensing, this means all HMO's require licensing. You can read about it on the Council's website here.

There is a list of licensed HMO's in Lambeth, again on the Council's website here.

It is our understanding that it is more a "Light Touch Registration Scheme", than a licensing process / system.

There are unlicensed HMO's operating in Lambeth, which can be reported to the Council.