Havering Section 257 HMO Licensing: Do Converted Flats Need a Licence?

The Category Most Landlords Miss

When people think of HMO licensing, they picture shared houses — students splitting a kitchen, professionals renting individual rooms. But Havering's Additional HMO Licensing Scheme 3, in force borough-wide since 18 March 2026, also captures a less obvious category: Section 257 HMOs.

A Section 257 HMO is a building that has been converted into self-contained flats where the conversion failed to meet the applicable building standards and still does not comply with them, and fewer than two-thirds of the flats are owner-occupied. If you own a flat in a converted Victorian terrace, an Edwardian house split into bedsits, or a 1970s block that was subdivided without full building regulations compliance, this could apply to your property.

The Three-Part Test

The statutory definition under Section 257 of the Housing Act 2004 has three legs. All three must be met for the building to qualify:

1. Was the building converted into self-contained flats? The building must have been converted into, and currently consist of, self-contained flats. A purpose-built block of flats that was always separate units doesn't count — the building must have undergone a conversion from some other use.

2. Did the conversion fail the applicable building standards, and does the building still fail them? For conversions completed before 1 June 1992, the benchmark is standards equivalent to those in the Building Regulations 1991 as at 1 June 1992. For later conversions, the benchmark is the building regulations in force when the work was done. If the conversion met the relevant standards, or the building now complies with them, the building falls outside Section 257 regardless of age.

3. Are fewer than two-thirds of the flats owner-occupied? A flat counts as owner-occupied if it's occupied by a person with a lease of more than 21 years, the freeholder, or a member of their household. In a building with six flats, at least four would need to be owner-occupied to take the block outside the threshold. In most converted rental blocks, none or very few are owner-occupied, so this test is easily met.

What It Means in Practice

If all three conditions are met, the building is a Section 257 HMO. Havering's Scheme 3 covers such a block only where all accommodation units are privately rented and the building and units are in the same ownership; the designation excludes buildings with no more than two flats. The standard fee is £1,400 (Part A: £840, Part B: £560), with a £100 accredited landlord discount available on Part B.

If you own one flat in a multi-owner converted block, the Scheme 3 same-ownership condition may not be met. Check with Havering's licensing team before applying to confirm whether the designation covers the building.

The Planning Complication

Section 257 buildings often have a parallel planning problem. If the conversion created what the planning system classifies as an HMO (even one with self-contained flats), and the conversion didn't have planning permission under Use Class C4 or sui generis, then the building may be operating without planning consent.

Havering's policy is direct: if an HMO licence application is submitted for a property that lacks required planning permission or a Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development (CLEUD), the council won't issue a standard five-year licence. Instead, they issue a truncated one-year licence, giving the landlord 12 months to resolve the planning position.

How to Check Your Building

Start by finding out when the building was converted and whether the conversion met the building regulations at the time. If you don't have the original building control sign-off, the council's building control team or a building surveyor can help establish whether the conversion met the applicable standard.

Then check ownership across the building. If fewer than two-thirds of the flats are owner-occupied, and the conversion failed the building standards test, the building is likely a Section 257 HMO.

The Havering Landlord Licensing guide includes the full Section 257 assessment workflow and explains how to navigate the licensing application when planning consent is unclear.

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