Services / HMO planning and licensing
HMO planning and licensing
For landlords creating or licensing a house in multiple occupation. We check whether planning permission is needed, prepare the application and draw the plans the council's licensing team asks for.
- FreeInitial consultationA conversation about your project, and a first view of what's possible, before any fee is agreed.
- FixedFee for each stageEvery stage is priced in writing before it starts. No hourly billing.
- 3DSee the design firstYour design is shown in 3D before it's submitted, while changes are still easy.
- FreeResubmissionIf planning is refused, we revise and resubmit at no extra design fee. Conditions
What we do
HMO potential check
Whether the house can be an HMO, how many people, and whether an Article 4 direction applies.
HMO planning application
Layouts and the application for a large HMO, or a small HMO where permitted development rights are removed.
HMO licence drawings
Floor plans showing room sizes, fire safety and facilities for the council's licence application.
Building regulations
Fire separation, escape routes and alarms for the conversion.
HMOs
What's included
Priced once we know the house and the number of occupants you are planning for.
- Check of planning status and Article 4 directions
- Layouts tested against the council's HMO standards
- Planning application where needed
- Licence drawings for the council
Before you start
What we need, and what sits outside our fee
- From you: the property address, a few photos, and any existing drawings, planning approvals or surveys you have. We arrange the measured survey with you.
- Not in our fee: council planning and building control fees, and specialist reports a council asks for, such as a tree survey or flood risk assessment, unless your fee proposal lists them.
- Your fee proposal sets out exactly what is included for your project before any work starts.
Timescales
How long it takes
We give you a timetable for our work in your fee proposal. Council and other statutory timings start once an application is validated.
- Planning decision
- Target of 8 weeks after validation
- Building regulations full plans
- 5 weeks, or up to 2 months if you agree
Projects
HMO planning and licensing we have designed
Common questions
Does my HMO need a licence?
A licence is mandatory for HMOs with five or more people forming two or more households. Many London boroughs also run additional licensing schemes for smaller HMOs, so we check the borough's rules.
Does it need planning permission?
A small HMO of three to six people is often permitted development, unless an Article 4 direction removes that right. A large HMO of seven or more always needs planning permission.
Other services
- Free planning check
- House extensions
- Loft conversions
- Upward extensions
- Renovations and internal alterations
- Basement conversions
- Planning permission
- Lawful development certificates
- Pre-application advice
- Building regulations drawings
- Building control applications
- Structural calculations
- Structural surveys and letters of comfort
- Flat conversions
- Lease plans and licence to alter
- Change of use
- New builds
- Interior design
- 3D visualisation
- Energy and retrofit
- Energy Performance Certificates (EPC)
- Accessible home adaptations
- Commercial fit-outs and shopfronts
- Design consultations
- Party wall surveys
- Build over agreements and drainage
- Planning reports and statements
- Amendments, conditions and regularisation
- Planning appeals
- Conservation areas and listed buildings
- Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
- Feasibility and site checks
- Measured surveys
- Building surveys
- Drawing reviews and second opinions
- Location and block plans
- Tender and construction support
- Principal designer (CDM and building regulations)
- Cost management
- Project management
- Contract administration
- Design and build
- Turnkey projects
- Landscape design
Where we work
HMO planning and licensing across London
Local planning points for the boroughs closest to our Cricklewood studio: Ealing, Harrow, Brent, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Haringey, Enfield, Barnet, Camden, Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea. See all 33 boroughs.