Key Points
- Licence Surge: Freedom of Information data reveals licensed Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in Greenwich reached 1,611 in May, nearly doubling from 811 recorded in July 2025.
- Locational Concentration: HMO licences in the Plumstead & Glyndon ward rose from 156 to 240 between March and May, whilst figures in Plumstead Common increased from 56 to 94.
- Community Concerns: Local residents link the rapid rise in HMO conversions to an increase in anti-social behaviour, drug dealing, sexual harassment, vehicle crime, and the loss of traditional family housing.
- Council Response: Greenwich Council is introducing immediate planning restrictions to preserve family homes, whilst rejecting claims that HMO residents are responsible for local crime spikes.
- Governance Critique: Housing experts warn of a breakdown in communication between municipal planning, licensing, and building enforcement departments.
Plumstead (South London News) August 24, 2026 —Residents in Plumstead have raised severe concerns that their neighbourhood is rapidly deteriorating into a “ghetto” following a dramatic surge in Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) across the Royal Borough of Greenwich. According to data obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests by the community group Local Voices on HMOs, the number of licensed HMO properties in Greenwich surged to 1,611 by May. This figure marks a near doubling of the 811 licensed HMOs recorded by the authority in a July 2025 full council meeting. Local residents assert that the rapid conversion of traditional residential properties into multi-occupancy bedsits is eroding the area’s family-oriented structure, driving up anti-social behaviour, and degrading the local environment.
Why are Plumstead residents raising alarms over HMO conversions?
As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, members of Local Voices on HMOs—a campaign group comprising 150 local residents—argue that the proliferation of HMOs is actively replacing multi-generational family homes. Residents living in Melling Street, where the group formed following objections to plans to convert a residential property into a six-person HMO, describe a noticeable shift in neighbourhood safety and cohesion.
Long-term residents Brian and Julie Connor, who have lived on Melling Street for 46 years alongside their children and grandchildren, stated that the area’s historic “family feel” is under direct threat.
As reported by the LDRS, Mr Connor detailed a rise in anti-social incidents over the past two years, including drug dealing, car crime, package thefts, sexual assaults, and late-night disturbances. Mr Connor stated:
“We get a lot of kids here walking up and down and going to school. A couple of young girls have been followed. The police have come round and asked for our footage on CCTV. I just feel that family homes are being erased. There’d be nowhere for young families to go anymore. It’s doing a lot of damage, I think, to the community.”
Fellow Melling Street resident Julie Brasier echoed these concerns, telling the LDRS:
“At the end of the day, this is our community. We’re families living here. We’ve chosen to live here and this is our community, and it’s just being eroded isn’t it?”
Mrs Brasier reported confronting individuals inhaling nitrous oxide outside her home during the night. Other group members recounted instances of tyre slashing, public exposure, street defecation, and uncollected rubbish overflowing into public spaces.
How is Greenwich Council responding to community allegations?
As reported by the LDRS, Greenwich Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Development, Councillor Tom Creswell, acknowledged community concerns surrounding the loss of family homes but pushed back against assertions that HMO residents are responsible for local crime patterns.
Addressing suspicions raised by Local Voices on HMOs that council-managed temporary accommodation was placing vulnerable single males or former prisoners into HMOs, Cllr Creswell stated that only 3.5 per cent of the council’s temporary accommodation placements—equating to 69 individuals—were housed in HMOs.
Responding to these claims, Cllr Creswell stated to the LDRS:
“I would be astounded if there was a concerted effort to do what’s being alleged, and it is just 3.5 per cent of our temporary accommodation mix. I just don’t think there’s any credibility in that. HMOs in and of themselves are not inherently bad things. They are not inhabited by inherently bad people. You get people who cause issues in the community in whatever type of housing that you have and it’s really important that we don’t demonise any one group.”
Cllr Creswell noted that while the borough has installed dedicated CCTV units on Melling Street, municipal data does not establish a direct causal link between HMO conversions and rising anti-social behaviour rates. He emphasised that HMOs form a vital component of the borough’s response to the national housing crisis.
To restrict future conversion rates, Cllr Creswell confirmed the council is implementing immediate planning safeguards ahead of its upcoming Local Plan:
- Internal Area Limits: Properties with a gross internal floor area of less than 130 square metres will be prohibited from converting into HMOs.
- Density Restrictions: Planning approval for new HMOs will be refused if three existing or permitted HMOs already sit within the nearest ten residential properties.
- Material Consideration Notes: Planners will apply these criteria dynamically during upcoming committee decisions starting from late September.
- Enforcement Powers: Capitalising on updated provisions under the Renters’ Rights Act, the authority can now issue financial penalties up to £40,000 to landlords operating improperly licensed or substandard properties.
Is there a failure in municipal oversight?
As reported by the LDRS, housing consultant Mark Brayford, who possesses 35 years of administrative experience across Ealing, Lewisham, and Hammersmith & Fulham councils, warned that Greenwich Council exhibits signs of systemic breakdown regarding HMO governance. Mr Brayford highlighted an operational disconnect between the borough’s planning, licensing, and building control departments.
Mr Brayford stated to the LDRS:
“I’m scared that there’s a massive increase in properties that planning aren’t checking properly, licensing aren’t checking properly and building enforcement are ignoring. Then if something happens, everyone will point the finger at someone else and it will be a systematic governance failure. If you are licensing hundreds and hundreds of properties in a few months, are you doing the diligence and the checks to make sure those properties are safe?”
Cllr Creswell acknowledged that cross-departmental integration requires structural improvement, citing internal alignment across planning, building control, and licensing as a key administrative priority.
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Background of the particular development
The rapid expansion of Houses in Multiple Occupation across South East London has emerged as a central point of friction between local authorities attempting to satisfy acute housing shortages and long-term suburban residents seeking to maintain low-density residential communities.
Historically, Plumstead offered accessible Victorian and Edwardian housing stock that attracted multi-generational families. However, rising capital values and elevated rental demand across Inner London have incentivised property investors to convert traditional single-family dwellings into multi-let units to maximize yield per square metre.
In July 2025, Greenwich Council expanded its proactive HMO compliance enforcement, triggering a sharp influx of 564 formal licence applications from private landlords seeking compliance with municipal regulations. This regulatory drive exposed the full scale of HMO operations across the borough, revealing that figures had effectively doubled within ten months.
In response to mounting public petitions and legal challenges—such as the contested refusal of a six-person HMO conversion at 6 Melling Street—the local authority has moved to tighten its policy frameworks to stop the permanent loss of small-to-mid-scale family dwellings.
Prediction: How this development can affect local residents and property markets
The implementation of stricter gross internal area thresholds (130 sqm) alongside localized concentration limits will significantly slow the formal pipeline of new HMO conversions in Plumstead and surrounding Greenwich wards. For owner-occupiers and local families, these planning constraints may stabilize the supply of traditional housing stock, slowing the conversion of residential streets into high-density rental strips.
However, because these policy changes do not operate retroactively on existing, legally established multi-let properties, areas with already high HMO concentrations are unlikely to experience an immediate reduction in density or related infrastructure strain.
Conversely, tighter formal restrictions, combined with landlord penalties up to £40,000 under the Renters’ Rights Act, risk driving non-compliant operations further underground. If private operators bypass statutory planning channels entirely, unlicenced HMO conversions may persist without municipal building safety checks, potential oversight, or adequate environmental waste management.
Furthermore, restricting lower-cost multi-let accommodation during an ongoing regional housing shortage may compress local rental supply, driving up rents for single occupants, young professionals, and low-income workers dependent on HMO bedsits within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
