Camden HMO amenity standards

Camden says landlords must hold either a mandatory or an additional licence to operate an HMO in the borough. Mandatory licensing applies to most properties with five or more people forming two or more households. The current additional licensing scheme came into force on 8 December 2025, replacing the scheme that ran from December 2020, and covers any property with three or more people forming two or more households. Flats in purpose-built blocks of three or more flats are outside mandatory licensing but still need an additional licence in Camden.

Source: Camden — Houses in multiple occupation (HMO).

Camden publishes separate standards for houses and flats with shared facilities, for self-contained flats and studios within HMOs, and for hostels. The shared-facilities document is dated effective 8 December 2020 and says each property is still assessed case by case. It also warns that adding kitchens or bathrooms inside bedrooms or bedsits may need planning permission, because the council is committed to keeping HMOs in the borough.

Document: Camden — Standards for houses and flats with shared facilities (PDF).

Where the kitchen is in a separate room, Camden’s minimum is 9 m² for a single and 11 m² for a double. Where kitchen facilities sit inside the room, the minimum rises to 12 m² single and 14 m² double. A lower set applies only where there is a shared kitchen, a shared living room of at least 10 m² and cohesive living: 7.1 m² for a single, 7.3 m² for a single with a wash hand basin, and 10.2 m² for a double. Floor under a ceiling lower than 1.5 m is not counted, and space taken by in-room washing facilities is excluded.

Shared kitchens need one set of facilities for up to five people, two sets for six to ten and three sets for eleven to fifteen. Minimum kitchen floor areas run from 4.8 m² for three or four people living cohesively to 6 m² for five, 11 m² for six to ten and 16 m² for eleven to fifteen. Four or fewer occupants need at least one bathroom with a bath or shower, basin and WC. Five people need two full bathrooms, or one bathroom plus a separate WC with basin, and larger houses add a full set per five people with at least one WC in a separate compartment.

Camden publishes its licence fees, refunds and discounts as a separate PDF each year, with standard licence conditions for the 2025–30 designation alongside. Licensed addresses appear on the council’s open-data HMO register, which buyers use to match a sale pack to the licence actually granted. Fee list: Camden — HMO licensing application fees 2026–27 (PDF). Sale route: Sell an HMO in Camden.

England’s 2018 regulations set 6.51 m² and 10.22 m² as the legal floor for licensed sleeping rooms, and councils may set higher local standards but not lower ones. Camden’s 9 m² and 11 m² figures are an example of that higher local bar. Overview: HMO standards. Regulation text: SI 2018/616.