HMO valuation in London

Rents can look similar across neighbouring postcodes while planning and licensing risk diverge sharply. A Camden three-person house now sits under borough-wide additional licensing from 8 December 2025, while a Brent address carries a November 2022 Article 4 story and Appendix 1 amenity floors. Build every soft figure from the borough file first, then layer the rent roll.

Mandatory licensing for larger HMOs applies across England, but additional and selective schemes are borough designations with their own start and end dates. Camden’s 2025 additional licensing designation runs to 8 December 2030 and catches three-or-more person HMOs borough-wide. Other boroughs publish different additional or selective maps, so a London valuation pack should name the council scheme rather than saying “London licensing”.

Several London boroughs remove C3 to C4 permitted development through Article 4 directions with different confirmation and commencement dates. Brent’s direction took effect on 1 November 2022; Ealing’s Perivale direction was immediate on 30 October 2024 with a wider non-immediate direction from 14 November 2025; Lambeth’s Streatham wards followed on 11 August 2025. Those dates change exit liquidity even when the rent roll looks identical.

Capitalise each house on its own borough rules rather than blending yields across councils. Use vacant possession where a borough designation or Article 4 gate still leaves planning or licensing unfinished. Method guide: valuation methods.

Drill into the borough page that matches the address before you refinance or exit, rather than stopping at a city label. Examples: Camden valuations, Brent valuations, Ealing valuations, Lambeth valuations.