Rules on Small HMOs in the Borough Set to Be Tightened
New requirement for planning permission after rise in 'problematic properties'
Picture: AI Generated
February 8, 2026
Hammersmith & Fulham councillors are set to approve plans to crack down on the number of small Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) by requiring them to secure planning permission.
Hammersmith and Fulham Cabinet members are to receive a paper on the issue at their meeting on Monday (February 9) with the expectation the change will be enforced in 12 months’ time.
The paper details how the recommendation has been put forward due to tenant and resident associations highlighting issues “with a growing trend of problematic privately rented properties impacting local amenity and community cohesion”.
Small HMOs, which are properties shared by between three and six unrelated people, benefit from permitted development rights.
This means a landlord wishing to change their property from a Class C3 residential dwelling to a Class C4 HMO does not need planning permission. Larger HMOs, with seven or more people, do. Permitted development rights can be removed by making what is known as an Article 4 Direction.
Other councils across London have either acted on this already or are in the process of doing so, including Harrow, Sutton and Ealing.
In the paper to go before Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s Cabinet, officers have recommended a ‘non-immediate’ direction, which would come into force 12 months after the decision is made. A borough-wide direction is highlighted as the preferred option rather than focussing on a particular neighbourhood.
It is revealed that the council has around 4,600 licensed HMOs, 600 of which are large and 4,000 small.
In the last three years Hammersmith and Fulham has issued 15 notices for breach of licence, though none have been revoked.
Officers wrote an Article 4 Direction will “not solve the issue of rogue landlords, existing problematic HMOs, nor the use of residential properties by other public sector bodies such as health authorities or probation services that do fall under the definition of an HMO and do not require planning or licensing or prior notification of intended use to neighbours”.
They added: “The implementation of an Article 4 Direction alongside new policies within the emerging Local Plan should provide the tools necessary to manage the impacts of small HMOs.”
Cabinet members are also recommended to approve £50,000 to develop an evidence study supporting the Article 4 Direction.
In January Harrow Council put forward plans to require small HMOs to get planning permission.
The local authority described the move as “using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut”, though added it was the right thing to do to better control HMO conversions.
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter
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