Camden HMO Room Size Requirements: Minimum Standards for Every Room

Room sizes in a Camden HMO aren't just a guideline — licence conditions limit their use, and letting someone sleep in an undersized room may breach those conditions. Camden enforces both the national minimum floor areas and its own local amenity standards, and the measurement rules have details that catch landlords out.

National Minimum Sleeping Room Sizes

These apply to every licensed HMO in England under the 2018 Mandatory Conditions of Licences Regulations:

• 6.51 m² — minimum for one person aged 10 or over
• 10.22 m² — minimum for two people aged 10 or over
• 4.64 m² — minimum for one child under 10

Any room measuring less than 4.64 m² cannot be used as sleeping accommodation at all. These are absolute statutory minimums — the licence will state the maximum occupancy for each room based on its measured floor area.

Camden's Local Standards

Camden Council enforces higher baseline guidelines on top of the national figures:

• 7.5 m² for a single bedroom
• 11 m² if cooking facilities are located within the room (a bedsit-style arrangement)

These local standards reflect Camden's amenity expectations for the borough. Where the national minimum and local standard differ, the higher number applies.

The Ceiling Height Rule

This is the measurement detail that trips up the most landlords, particularly in converted loft rooms, mansard extensions and basement flats.

When calculating floor area, any section of a room where the ceiling height is below 1.5 metres must be excluded entirely. It doesn't count toward the room's usable area.

A loft room that measures 9 m² on the floor plan might only have 6 m² of usable space once you exclude the sloped sections under the eaves. If that drops it below 6.51 m², the room can't be used for a single occupant. Camden's application portal requires you to enter room dimensions in square metres, so you need to calculate the effective area before submitting.

Kitchen and Bathroom Sharing Ratios

Camden applies specific amenity ratios that determine how many kitchens and bathrooms you need based on occupant numbers:

Kitchens: One complete set of cooking amenities (cooker, oven, sink, work surface, food storage and fridge-freezer) for every five occupants. A six-person HMO needs two kitchen setups.

Bathrooms: One bathroom with a wash-hand basin and WC for every five occupants. Where five people share a single bathroom, a separate WC is also required.

These ratios are licence conditions, not suggestions. Falling short means your application may be refused or granted with conditions requiring you to install additional facilities within a set timeframe.

How to Measure Correctly

Camden requires metric floor plans showing room dimensions in square metres, not feet. The plans should show:

• Individual room measurements with the ceiling height deduction applied
• Location of fire safety equipment (smoke alarms, heat detectors, fire extinguishers)
• Escape routes

You can commission a surveyor or draw the plans yourself, but Camden will query approximate-looking figures. Measure every room including hallways and bathrooms, use a laser measure for accuracy, and note ceiling heights in any room where the roof slopes or the floor level drops.

What Happens If a Room Is Too Small

If Camden's assessment finds a room falls below the minimum floor area for the number of occupants stated on the application, the licence will impose a lower occupancy limit for that room. A room that measures 8 m² can house one person but not two — the licence will state "maximum one occupant" for that room.

If a room falls below 4.64 m², the licence will prohibit its use as sleeping accommodation entirely. Allowing someone to sleep in a sub-minimum room is a breach of licence conditions — an offence under section 72(3) of the Housing Act 2004, carrying a civil penalty of up to £40,000.

Getting the measurements right before you apply avoids surprises in the licence conditions and the costly prospect of having to reconfigure your property after the licence is granted.

The Camden Landlord Licensing Guide includes a room measurement worksheet that walks through the ceiling height deduction calculation and Camden's amenity ratios room by room.

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