Croydon Shared House and Bedsit Licensing: Which HMO Licence You Need
Shared Houses vs Bedsits: The Licensing Difference
Croydon's licensing requirements depend on how many people live in the property and how many separate households they form. The physical layout — shared house with communal kitchen, or self-contained bedsit rooms — also affects the licence type and the room standards that apply.
The three occupancy tiers:
- Two sharers or a single household in one of the 14 designated wards → selective licence (CPRPL 2026, £800 for five years)
- Three or four people forming two or more households sharing facilities → additional HMO licence (CAHMOL 2026, borough-wide, £1,250 for five years)
- Five or more people forming two or more households sharing facilities → mandatory HMO licence (permanent, borough-wide, £295 per habitable room for five years)
Two unrelated individuals sharing a property count as two separate households under Section 258 of the Housing Act 2004. A couple living together counts as one household.
Shared House Licensing
A shared house — where tenants each rent a bedroom and share a communal kitchen, bathroom and living space — is the most common HMO format in Croydon.
Three or four occupiers: If they form two or more households and share basic amenities, the property needs an additional HMO licence under the CAHMOL 2026 scheme. This applies borough-wide across all 28 wards, not just the 14 selective licensing wards. The standard five-year fee is £1,250.
Five or more occupiers: If they form two or more households and share basic amenities, the property needs a mandatory HMO licence. Fees are charged per habitable room (£295 each for a five-year term), so a five-bedroom shared house costs £1,475. Mandatory HMO licensing is a national scheme — it applies everywhere in England, not just Croydon.
The key dividing line between additional and mandatory is the number of occupants, not the number of bedrooms. A four-bedroom house let to three tenants who each form a separate household needs an additional HMO licence. If a fourth tenant moves in (making five occupants across two or more households), the property crosses into mandatory HMO territory.
Two Sharers and the Selective Licence
A property let to exactly two unrelated sharers (two separate households) requires a selective licence — but only if the property is in one of the 14 designated wards. In the other 14 wards, a two-sharer property does not need any local licence.
If a third person moves in so that three occupants form two or more households and share basic amenities, the property needs an additional HMO licence instead. The selective licence does not cover HMO use.
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Bedsit Standards
Bedsits — individual rooms with cooking facilities inside them — have higher minimum room size requirements than shared house bedrooms because the tenant lives, sleeps and cooks in one space.
Croydon's local standards for bedsit rooms:
| Bedsit Type | One Person | Two People |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen inside, shared bathroom | 13.50 m² | 18.50 m² |
| En-suite bathroom, shared kitchen | 12.50 m² | 17.50 m² |
| Shared kitchen and shared bathroom | 10.00 m² | 15.00 m² |
Compare these to the shared house bedroom minimums: 6.51 m² for one person, 10.22 m² for two. A room that qualifies as a shared house bedroom may be too small for a bedsit.
All measurements exclude any floor area where the ceiling height is below 1.5 metres (five feet). If your property has sloped ceilings or dormer rooms, the usable floor area may be significantly less than the total footprint.
Getting It Right
The most common mistake is underestimating occupancy. Landlords sometimes advertise a property for two sharers (selective licence territory) when the property configuration — multiple bedrooms, large kitchen, separate living room — practically invites more occupants. If three people move in and form two or more households sharing basic amenities, an HMO licence is required; operating without one is a criminal offence.
Check occupancy at every tenancy change and monitor whether the licence type still matches the actual household composition. If the occupancy changes, contact the council about varying or replacing your licence before the mismatch becomes an enforcement issue.
For the full licensing decision process, see our Croydon landlord licensing guide.
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