Lambeth landlord licensing scheme due to come into force on 1st September 2025

Lambeth is introducing its own landlord licensing scheme in all but two wards of the borough where it says it is unnecessary.

It is Phase 2 of a scheme which began in September 2024 in four wards: Knights Hill, Streatham Common and Vale, Streatham Hill East, and Streatham St. Leonard’s. Only Vauxhall and Waterloo & South Bank wards are excluded from the new requirements for landlords.

The Council says that the scheme will “help to identify poorly performing landlords, letting and managing agents, improve the health and safety of tenants, help landlords raise their standards, improve the physical condition of private rented properties, support good landlords, and help tackle neighbourhood problems.”

Landlords who fail to license a property will be committing a criminal offence, and be subject to prosecution or a £30,000 fine. Meanwhile, “tenant(s) and/or the council may also apply to the First-Tier Tribunal (Residential Tribunal) for a rent repayment order.”

However, it appears that landlords are not always following existing rules on Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs).

One landlord was advertising a flat rental on the Open Rent website which only had one bathroom for 7 bedrooms. It was spotted by a Reddit user who posted the link on r/London.

Different councils however have different rules on the minimum number of bathrooms. In Lambeth, the rules state that there should be “A readily accessible and suitably sized bathroom/ shower room” for every five people maximum. Less than 1 bathroom per 5 people is a violation of HMO rules.

However, the Open Rent site now suggests that the property has either been rented or removed from the site, with a message saying “Let Agreed – This property is no longer available for rent. This property has now been taken off the market (as of Tuesday, 19 August 2025).”

As the Reddit user who posted the link to the flat noted, searching Lambeth’s register of licensed HMOs for the postcode given in the listing shows 3 properties on that road, all of which are licensed for a maximum of 4 permitted occupants.

In the comments to the Reddit thread, one user responded saying “I’ve just learned from your post that my landlord is in breach of his HMO in the flat I live. What do I do 😭I move out in two weeks, he’s been an arse, how do I be as destructive as possible via reporting ?”

Other users suggested visiting www.getrentback.org to start the process of applying for a Rent Repayment Order (RRO).

Looking at other rental sites for properties with over 5 bedrooms suggests that, while uncommon, there are other examples of landlords attempting to rent properties with fewer than the required ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms.

In some cases, flats which have 5 double bedrooms and a single bathroom are advertised as ‘5 tenants max’, because if there were more than 1 tenant per room, they would be breaking the rules on the number of allowed tenants per bathroom.

One 5 bed rental property on Open Rent was advertised for ‘6 tenants max’, with only one bathroom. The Open Rent site seems to have more properties which could be breaking HMO rules on number of bathrooms per tenant than other sites like Zoopla.

We found two properties with 5 bedrooms and 1 bathroom – this one and this one – which listed the same agent to contact. Another listing on Open Rent with only 1 bathroom and 4 bedrooms listed ‘8 tenants max’.

In a blog post, community union ACORN’s Lambeth branch noted that

“The introduction of the scheme is important but not enough by itself.

The success of the scheme will depend on enforcement.

The number of landlords who actually have licenses removed or denied will be an important measure of that, and the knock-on effect on the quality of housing remains to be seen.

The council should not be allowed to get away with the appearance of substantial action just by introducing regulation without the follow up that really improves standards.”

Lib Dem Councillor Ben Curtis told Brixton Buzz,

“Licensing on paper isn’t enough. Labour in Lambeth are quick to announce schemes but slow to enforce them.

Tenants in my ward and across the borough are still stuck in overcrowded, damp flats with too few bathrooms – and the council’s own stock is often worse.

We want to see proper enforcement, clear inspection targets, and reporting on how many licences are actually refused or revoked.

Without that, this is just more words instead of real action.”

Green Party Councillor Nicole Griffiths said

“We’re very pleased that it’s been introduced as the Greens have been pushing for it for years.

Hopefully, the Council will make the most of new licencing procedures to ensure landlords provide the high quality of homes renters deserve & go some way towards ridding Lambeth of landlords who are exploiting the current situation – charging extortionate rents for sub-standard homes”.

Former Labour, now independent Councillor Martin Abrams told Brixton Buzz,

“Lambeth is facing a housing emergency and for years slum landlords have exploited tenants and the most vulnerable residents in our Borough so any policy that shifts power away from landlords is welcome but this scheme does not go anywhere near far enough.

In Lambeth we have a Labour Government, Labour Mayor of London and Labour Council, this is a once in a generation opportunity to fix the housing emergency, fund a mass council house building program and stop lining the pockets of exploitative landlords to the tune of millions every year.”

Lambeth Council was contacted for comment on this article but no reply was received before publication.