Greenwich Council Tightens HMO Rules Before Major Planning Law Change 2026

Key Points

• Immediate Policy Action: Greenwich Council has issued a new guidance note tightening approval criteria for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) ahead of upcoming national planning law changes.
• Cabinet Sign-off: Tom Creswell, the Labour cabinet member for planning, approved the guidance note to act as an immediate stopgap before the borough’s new Local Plan receives formal examination and adoption.
• Property Size Thresholds: Under the new rules, HMOs are barred in buildings with a total floor area of less than 130 square metres.
• Concentration Caps: The guidance introduces strict density rules banning new HMOs if three or more of the nearest ten properties are already operating as HMOs, as well as restricting concentrations in blocks of flats.
• Geographic Clustering: Council data reveals that 44 per cent of all HMO approvals in the five years up to March were concentrated in the Plumstead & Glyndon and Plumstead Common wards.
• Public Transport Requirement: Proposed HMO developments must now be located in areas with good public transport accessibility and demonstrate plans for effective ongoing management.
• Historical Context: Greenwich’s 2014 Local Plan contained no specific policies on HMOs, leaving the borough exposed to rapid conversions following the UK government’s 2010 national “permitted development” deregulation.
• Planning Process Shift: The guidance comes two weeks before administrative law changes mean officers could handle HMO determinations internally rather than elected councillors deciding applications in public meetings.

Greenwich (South London News) October 16, 2026 – Greenwich Council has strengthened its decision-making criteria for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) on October 16, 2026, acting just two weeks before national planning law changes allow council officers to determine applications internally behind closed doors rather than through public councillor panels.

Why has Greenwich Council introduced tighter HMO rules now?

The decision to tighten HMO rules stems from a surge in family homes being converted into bedsits across the borough in recent years. This proliferation was largely enabled by lax national and local planning policies over the past decade. While all HMOs within the Royal Borough of Greenwich require licensing under separate housing regulations, local residents in several neighbourhoods have repeatedly raised concerns regarding increased anti-social behaviour, noise, and crime associated with high-density bedsits.

Political pressure mounted significantly during the council elections in May, particularly across the Plumstead and Shooters Hill areas, where the Labour Party lost seats to Green Party candidates following sustained local friction over property conversions. Official council data indicates that 44 per cent of all HMO approvals granted across the borough in the five-year period up to March were concentrated within just two wards: Plumstead & Glyndon and Plumstead Common.

To address these concerns before the formal adoption of the borough’s upcoming Local Plan, Tom Creswell, the Labour cabinet member for planning, signed off on an immediate “guidance note”. This document instructs planning officers and councillors to apply stricter criteria to all current and upcoming HMO planning applications without delay.

What specific restrictions do the new Greenwich planning guidelines enforce?

The newly issued guidance note establishes several explicit spatial and technical requirements that prospective HMO developments must meet to secure planning permission:

• Minimum Property Size: The guidance prohibits the establishment of HMOs within any residential building possessing a total floor space of less than 130 square metres, preventing the conversion of smaller terraced and semi-detached family dwellings.
• Neighbourhood Density Limits: To prevent entire streets from being dominated by bedsit accommodation, new HMO approvals are banned if three or more of the ten nearest properties are already functioning as registered HMOs.
• Multi-Occupancy Restrictions in Flats: Specific limits have been introduced to restrict the proportion of HMO conversions permitted within individual blocks of flats.
• Accessibility and Management: Applicants must demonstrate that proposed developments are situated in locations with strong public transport links and present robust, verifiable long-term management plans.

How did past national and local planning policies create the current HMO situation?

The current planning framework traces back to 2010, when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government under Prime Minister David Cameron established default national rules across England. These rules designated small HMOs—housing six or fewer residents—as “permitted development,” allowing landlords to convert family homes into multi-occupancy units without applying for full planning permission.

Although local authorities were permitted to issue “Article 4 directions” to opt out of permitted development rights, Greenwich Council’s existing Local Plan—adopted in 2014—failed to include any specific policies governing HMO conversions. Consequently, the borough became a primary target for property developers and private landlords looking to maximize rental yield from single residential plots.

In 2018, Greenwich Council enacted a non-immediate Article 4 direction requiring all HMO conversions to submit formal planning applications, bringing small-scale developments back under committee scrutiny. However, because the overarching 2014 Local Plan still contained no specific evaluation criteria or statutory restrictions, planning officers and elected members frequently lacked the legal grounds to refuse applications, resulting in high approval rates.

The newly signed guidance note functions as an interim policy stopgap. Following a public consultation where a substantial majority of resident responses urged the council to adopt “more restrictive rather than less restrictive” measures, the guidelines will bridges the gap until the comprehensive Local Plan undergoes formal examination by an independent planning inspector next year.

Background of the HMO planning regulations in Greenwich

The regulation of Houses in Multiple Occupation has been a contentious planning issue across Greater London for more than a decade. Following the UK government’s relaxation of permitted development rights in 2010, urban local authorities faced significant challenges in balancing affordable housing supply against the retention of traditional family housing stock.

In Greenwich, the absence of tailored policies in the 2014 Local Plan meant that conversion applications expanded rapidly throughout suburban neighbourhoods. While HMOs provide critical low-cost private rental accommodation for young professionals, students, and low-income workers, high concentrations within specific streets frequently place increased demand on local infrastructure, street parking, refuse collection, and community services.

The council’s 2018 intervention removed automatic permitted development rights across the borough, forcing developers to seek explicit planning consent. However, planning decisions in England must be determined in accordance with the adopted development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Without concrete floor space thresholds or geographic saturation limits in the primary planning framework, refused applications were regularly overturned on appeal by the Planning Inspectorate, compelling the council to issue the current guidance note ahead of the upcoming statutory review.

Prediction: How these regulatory changes will affect local stakeholders

The introduction of the guidance note and the forthcoming Local Plan policies will have distinct operational and economic effects on residents, private landlords, and local authority planning operations:

For Local Residents and Homeowners

Neighbourhoods experiencing high HMO density, particularly in Plumstead and Shooters Hill, will see an immediate drop in new conversions. The 130-square-metre minimum floor space requirement excludes standard three-bedroom suburban homes from conversion, effectively protecting smaller housing stock for family occupation. Furthermore, the 3-in-10 saturation cap will stop the creation of continuous rows of bedsits, stabilizing local housing balance and reducing pressure on public amenities.

For Property Developers and Private Landlords

Landlords and property investors face significantly higher barriers to entry within Greenwich. Smaller properties that previously yielded high rental returns through multi-bed conversions are no longer viable under the 130-square-metre threshold. Landlords will need to target substantially larger properties or shift their investment strategies toward traditional single-family buy-to-let units or alternative boroughs with less restrictive planning controls. Existing HMO owners may see increased valuation and rental demand for their current portfolios due to the restricted future supply of bedsit accommodation across the borough.

For Council Planning Officers and Public Governance

In the short term, planning officers will have clear, objective metrics to refuse inappropriate conversion applications. However, as administrative law changes take effect over the coming weeks, a larger share of HMO decisions will be processed internally by officers under delegated powers rather than through public planning committee meetings. While this delegation will streamline processing times and reduce committee backlogs, it will require strict internal monitoring to ensure the new guidance note criteria are applied transparently without direct public debate by elected councillors.