Croydon
Verified local trades for Croydon
London Heroes covers Croydon around the clock. Every professional is identity-checked by a human, has their credentials verified against evidence and watched for expiry, and every payment is held securely until you confirm the work is done.
Landlord licensing in Croydon
Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England. Croydon may also operate additional or selective licensing.
- Selective licensing
- In operation. A new selective licensing scheme comes into force on 1 September 2026 covering 14 of Croydon's 28 wards. It applies to properties rented to a single household (for example a family), let to a single tenant, or rented by two individuals sharing. Properties already licensed as mandatory or additional HMOs are exempt. The statutory designation notice ('Ap7 - Selective Licensing Designation 1', published on croydon.gov.uk) states verbatim: 'The Designations are made on 25 March 2026 and will come into force on 1st September 2026 ... The Designation shall cease to have effect on 1st September 2031.' The ward list in that notice matches the 14 wards below exactly.Coverage: Addiscombe East, Addiscombe West, Bensham Manor, Broad Green, Fairfield, Norbury and Pollards Hill, Norbury Park, Selhurst, South Croydon, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Waddon, West Thornton, Woodside (14 of 28 wards).Designated: Made 25 March 2026; comes into force 1 September 2026; ceases to have effect 1 September 2031 — per the statutory designation notice published on croydon.gov.uk.
- Additional HMO licensing
- In operation. A new borough-wide additional HMO licensing scheme comes into force on 1 September 2026. Croydon's own scheme page states it applies to 'all smaller House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) properties in Croydon' - properties occupied by 3 or more persons from 2 or more households - excluding those already licensable as mandatory HMOs and other statutory exemptions. Croydon's current landlord licensing page confirms that as of 21 July 2026 the only licensing in force in the borough is mandatory HMO licensing; the previous borough-wide scheme has ended and the new one has not yet started. The statutory designation notice ('Ap6 - Additional HMO Licencing Designation 1', published on croydon.gov.uk) states verbatim: 'The Designations are made on 25 March 2026 and will come into force on 1st September 2026 ... The Designation shall cease to have effect on 1st September 2031.'Coverage: Borough-wide.Designated: Made 25 March 2026; comes into force 1 September 2026; ceases to have effect 1 September 2031 — per the statutory designation notice published on croydon.gov.uk.
Timing is the thing to get right in Croydon. Right now (July 2026) only mandatory HMO licensing applies - a landlord letting a family home in Thornton Heath needs no licence today but will need one from 1 September 2026. The two statutory designation notices (additional and selective), published directly on croydon.gov.uk, confirm the commencement date as 1 September 2026 and the expiry as 1 September 2031 — this supersedes the council's own live scheme webpage, which as of 21 July 2026 still displays 25 September 2026 and appears to be stale. Fees are NOT yet published: both scheme pages defer to a separate 'Licence fees and discounts' page and say further application information will be provided in July 2026, with more detail through summer 2026. Figures of £800 for a selective licence and £1,250 for an additional HMO licence circulate from the consultation stage - these were not confirmed on any live council page and should not be published as current fees. Being licensed early costs nothing; being late is a criminal offence — if you let in one of the 14 designated wards, work to 1 September 2026 and confirm the date with the council.
- Croydon — Additional HMO Licensing Designation 1 (statutory notice, PDF)
- Croydon — Selective Licensing Designation 1 (statutory notice, PDF)
Checked against the council’s own pages on 21 July 2026. Licensing schemes are five-year designations that expire and get redesignated on their own timetables — always confirm on CroydonCouncil’s licensing pages before applying or paying.
What Croydon is built of — and what that means for repairs
Croydon splits sharply north to south. The northern wards - Thornton Heath, Selhurst, South Norwood, Broad Green, Norbury - are dense late-Victorian and Edwardian terraces and semis, heavily subdivided into flats and shared houses, and this is where the private rented sector is concentrated. The south and east - Purley, Sanderstead, Shirley, Coulsdon - is a large interwar and post-war suburban belt of detached and semi-detached houses with gardens, much of it owner-occupied. Central Croydon adds a third character entirely: a cluster of 1960s and 1970s office towers, a substantial number of which have been converted to residential flats under permitted development rights, alongside newer purpose-built residential towers, plus large post-war estates such as New Addington on the eastern edge.
Common repair issues in Croydon
- Solid-wall Victorian and Edwardian terraces in the northern wards suffer rising and penetrating damp, failed or bridged damp-proof courses, and condensation made worse by retrofitted double glazing without matching ventilation
- Subdivided terraces and Edwardian conversions frequently have inadequate fire compartmentation, sound separation and escape routes - the exact issues selective and additional licensing inspections target
- Interwar semis in the south commonly need re-roofing, cavity wall tie and cavity insulation remediation, and replacement of original single-skin extensions and rear additions
- Office-to-residential permitted development conversions in central Croydon have recurring problems with acoustic separation, ventilation and overheating, since the shells were designed for offices rather than homes
- Post-war estates bring communal heating and riser systems, block-level roofing and drainage, and a realistic likelihood of asbestos-containing materials in properties built before 2000
- Chalky and clay subsoils across parts of the borough make subsidence and heave, particularly near mature trees, a live consideration for extensions and underpinning
Areas we cover in Croydon
- Thornton Heath
- South Norwood
- Croydon town centre
- Purley
- Coulsdon
- Addiscombe
- New Addington
- Sanderstead
Nearby boroughs
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Do landlords need a property licence in Croydon?
Croydon will operate additional HMO licensing borough-wide from 1 September 2026 until 1 September 2031 and selective licensing from 1 September 2026 until 1 September 2031; the exact coverage of selective licensing is set out on our Croydon page. Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England regardless. Checked against Croydon Council’s own pages on 21 July 2026 — confirm on the council’s website before applying, as designations expire and are renewed on their own timetables.
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