Croydon Licence Floor Plan and EICR Requirements: Getting Your Documents Right

Floor Plan Requirements

Croydon Council requires a dimensioned floor plan as part of every property licence application — selective, additional HMO and mandatory HMO. This is one of the most common reasons applications get sent back for corrections.

Your floor plan must show:

• Room dimensions in square metres — the usable floor area of every room, not just length × width. Measure the actual usable space at floor level.
• Ceiling heights — any area where the ceiling drops below 1.5 metres (5 feet) must be marked and excluded from the room area calculation. This is critical for loft conversions, dormer bedrooms and rooms with sloped ceilings.
• Room labels and uses — mark each room with its function (bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, living room, storage). For HMOs, indicate which rooms are communal and which are let as individual bedrooms.
• Fire door positions — mark all fire-rated doors, including self-closing fire doors on bedroom doors in HMOs.
• Smoke and heat alarm locations — show the position of every detector head on each floor.
• Kitchen and bathroom facilities — in HMOs, mark the position of cookers, sinks, fridges and washing facilities so the council can assess amenity ratios.

Plans should be drawn to scale and submitted as a clear PDF or JPEG. Hand-drawn plans are acceptable if they are neat, dimensioned and legible. For HMOs, a professional surveyor's plan makes the process smoother.

The 1.5-Metre Ceiling Height Rule

This catches more landlords than any other measurement issue. Under the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) (England) Regulations 2018, floor area where the ceiling height is below 1.5 metres cannot count toward the room's usable area.

In practice, this affects:

• Loft conversions with angled roof lines — a loft bedroom that measures 12 m² at floor level may only have 8 m² of usable area once you exclude the low-ceiling zones
• Dormer windows where the roof slopes down to the eaves
• Rooms with bulkheads or stepped ceilings from structural work above

A room that looks large enough on a basic floor plan may fall below the 6.51 m² single-room minimum once the ceiling height exclusion is applied. If your property has any rooms with variable ceiling heights, measure carefully and mark the exclusion zone on the plan.

EICR Requirements

An Electrical Installation Condition Report is mandatory for every Croydon licence application. Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020:

• The EICR must be satisfactory — meaning no C1 (danger present), C2 (potentially dangerous) or FI (further investigation needed) codes remain unresolved
• The inspection must be performed by a qualified electrician registered with a competent person scheme
• The report is valid for up to five years, though the inspector may specify a shorter re-inspection interval if the installation's condition warrants it
• Any C1, C2 or FI faults must be rectified within 28 days of the report, with confirmation provided to both the tenant and the council

Upload the full EICR (not just the summary page) to the Metastreet portal. If any faults were found and rectified, include the follow-up certificate confirming the remedial work.

Putting It Together: The Document Checklist

Before logging into the portal, assemble everything in one folder:

1. Land Registry title — official copy dated within the last three months
2. Gas Safety Certificate (CP12) — valid annual certificate from a Gas Safe registered engineer
3. EICR — satisfactory report dated within the last five years
4. Energy Performance Certificate — current EPC at Band E minimum (Band B+ qualifies for a £50 fee discount)
5. Dimensioned floor plan — with room sizes, ceiling height exclusions, alarm positions and facility locations
6. Fire safety documentation — alarm declaration (selective) or full fire risk assessment (HMOs)
7. Tenancy agreement sample — a copy of the current tenancy or letting terms
8. Fit-and-proper person declarations — completed for the proposed licence holder and managing agent

Missing any of these delays validation. An expired or unsatisfactory certificate stops the application entirely until a replacement is provided.

For a step-by-step walkthrough of the full application process, see our Croydon landlord licensing guide.

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