Harrow
Verified local trades for Harrow
London Heroes covers Harrow around the clock. Every professional is identity-checked by a person before they can take work, every credential they add is reviewed by our team against its evidence, with any expiry date checked daily, and every payment is held securely until you confirm the work is done.
If you smell gas, or a carbon monoxide alarm sounds: don't smoke, light a flame or touch light switches, open the doors and windows, turn the gas off at the meter if you can reach it safely and it isn't in a cellar or basement, get everyone out, and call the National Gas Emergency Service free on 0800 111 999 before anything else — before calling us.
Landlord licensing in Harrow
Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England. Harrow may also operate additional or selective licensing.
- Selective licensing
- In operation. Selective licensing applies to privately rented homes occupied by one or two persons or one family household in designated wards. The council has designated an expanded set of six wards, each with its own start date and each running five years from its own start: Edgware and Roxeth from 2 May 2026; Greenhill and Marlborough from 6 July 2026; Wealdstone North and Wealdstone South from 1 September 2026. It applies to 'all privately rented houses within the boundaries of each designated ward'. Exemptions include licensable HMOs, registered social landlord properties, and student accommodation managed by recognised educational institutions. Fee: administration £686 + management and enforcement £100 = £786, the same for new applications and renewals. Note the council's rule that a property is only ever subject to one residential licensing scheme — an HMO-licensed property does not also need a selective licence.Coverage: Edgware, Roxeth (live from 2 May 2026); Greenhill, Marlborough (live from 6 July 2026); Wealdstone North, Wealdstone South (from 1 September 2026)Designated: Staggered designations across 2026, each running five years from its own commencement date. As at 21 July 2026 four of the six wards are live and the two Wealdstone wards are not yet in force.
- Additional HMO licensing
- No longer in operation — ceased 5 August 2026. Harrow operates a borough-wide additional HMO licensing scheme covering 'HMOs occupied by three or more people in two or more households', and also converted buildings containing at least three self-contained privately rented flats that do not meet 1991 Building Regulations standards (section 257 HMOs). The scheme was designated 6 May 2021 and commenced 6 August 2021 following the three-month statutory notice period. HMO licence fees stated by the council: new application £1,400 administration + £500 inspection = £1,900; renewal £843.80 + £500 = £1,343.80; renewal with material change charged as a new application; section 257 self-contained units are much lower, roughly £278 (renewal) to £393 (new).Coverage: Borough-wideDesignated: Commenced 6 August 2021; the current designation expires 5 August 2026. A consultation on renewing it for a further five years ran 19 December 2025 to 27 February 2026 and closed with 136 responses; as at the council's own latest update the final proposals were still to be presented to Cabinet for a decision. Checked again on 21 July 2026: the published agenda pack for the Cabinet meeting of 9 July 2026 — the last Cabinet before the designation expires — carries no additional-licensing item, and no renewal decision has been published. For context on timing, Harrow's own Cabinet minutes for the 2021 designation record that it was made on 6 May 2021 and came into force on 6 August 2021 'after the statutory 3-month period'. Landlords should confirm the position with the council rather than assume the scheme continues past 5 August 2026.
The single most commercially important Harrow fact for 2026: an Article 4 Direction means that from 11 June 2026 planning permission is needed for a new HMO licence for properties with up to six occupants, and for any HMO exceeding six people. Licence renewals for smaller HMOs (up to six people) do not require planning permission. That decouples 'I can get a licence' from 'I can lawfully use it as an HMO' and catches out landlords converting family houses. Contact: private.sector.housing@harrow.gov.uk. Harrow's selective licensing is expanding rather than contracting — landlords in Wealdstone should be preparing now for the 1 September 2026 start.
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 Harrow Council’s licensing pages before applying or paying.
A property somewhere else in London? Check any London address with the free Property Licence Checker — all 33 boroughs on one page, each dated, with the whole dataset free to download.
Heating and gas safety in Harrow
If you smell gas, or a carbon monoxide alarm sounds: don't smoke, light a flame or touch light switches, open the doors and windows, turn the gas off at the meter if you can reach it safely and it isn't in a cellar or basement, get everyone out, and call the National Gas Emergency Service free on 0800 111 999 before anything else — before calling us.
Harrow operates selective licensing — the exact coverage of selective licensing is set out in the licensing panel above — checked against the council’s own pages on 21 July 2026. Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England regardless.
If you let a property with gas appliances installed, the landlord gas safety duties apply whether or not it needs a property licence.
Source — checked
Landlord Gas Safety Record (LGSR, often called 'CP12' in the industry, though that is not the certificate's legal name)
Annual — within 12 months of appliance/flue installation and at intervals of not more than 12 months thereafter.
Source — checked
Gas safety duties are set nationally and do not vary between London boroughs — only the licensing position above does.
Check an engineer on the Gas Safe Register: gassaferegister.co.uk
Source — checked
Landlord gas safety certificate (CP12) · Boiler service · Boiler repair
What Harrow is built of — and what that means for repairs
Harrow is overwhelmingly an interwar suburban borough — the classic Metro-land product of the 1920s and 1930s: bay-fronted semi-detached and short-terrace houses with hipped tiled roofs, rendered or pebbledashed elevations, and generous gardens, built out along the Metropolitan line through Rayners Lane, Kenton and Harrow Weald. Around this sit older village cores at Pinner and Harrow on the Hill, post-war and 1960s-70s estates and blocks around Wealdstone and central Harrow, and a steady flow of recent flatted development near Harrow-on-the-Hill station. Genuine Victorian terrace stock is a small minority here compared with inner London.
Common repair issues in Harrow
- Interwar cavity walls with the cavity either unfilled or filled decades ago with degraded or bridged insulation, causing cold spots and localised damp
- Original 1930s hipped tiled roofs at or past end of life: slipped tiles, failed or absent underfelt, and inadequate loft insulation
- Pebbledash and render cracking or blowing on rendered semis, letting water into the wall behind
- Single-glazed or early-double-glazed metal and timber windows in unmodernised semis
- Rear and side extensions and loft conversions on semis — a dominant local trade — with party wall and building regulations implications
- House-to-HMO conversions creating fire-separation, escape and amenity-standard shortfalls, now also a planning issue under the borough's Article 4 direction
- Dated electrical installations and ageing gas boilers in owner-occupied houses that have not changed hands in decades
- Subsidence risk on shrinkable clay subsoil in dry summers, aggravated by mature garden trees
Areas we cover in Harrow
- Harrow on the Hill
- Wealdstone
- Pinner
- Stanmore
- Edgware
- Rayners Lane
- Harrow Weald
- South Harrow
Nearby boroughs
London Heroes covers every neighbouring borough the same way — verified trades, day or night.
Letting out a property in more than one? Check any London address — all 33 boroughs in one place, each dated.
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Services in Harrow
Ordered for what’s common in Harrow’s housing — every service is available to book here, day or night.
Browse all servicesStraight answers for Harrow
How do I find a verified plumber or electrician in Harrow?
Describe the job at londonheroes.co.uk/request. Every professional on London Heroes has passed an identity check, decided by a person, before they can take work. The Hero Agreement requires the credentials their work needs (Gas Safe for gas work, competent-person scheme membership for electrical work, public liability insurance); our team reviews each one a professional adds, and once verified it shows on their Hero Passport with any expiry date it carries, which is checked daily. London Heroes covers Harrow around the clock.
How does payment protection work on London Heroes?
You pay when you book, and the money is held securely. It is released to the tradesperson when you confirm the work is complete, or after a dispute you raise is resolved in their favour. If something goes wrong before you confirm, raising a dispute freezes the money automatically while our team investigates; outcomes can include a refund to your original payment method. The platform fee is a transparent 10%, paid by the professional.
Are the tradespeople on London Heroes vetted?
Yes, and the decision is made by a person, not an algorithm. Identity verification includes photographic ID, a selfie holding the document, and business registration for limited companies, and no one can take work until it is approved. Every credential a professional adds is uploaded with its evidence and reviewed by our team. A credential whose recorded expiry date has passed shows as expired on the professional's public Passport rather than being hidden, and reviews can only be written by clients of real, paid jobs.
What does it cost to use London Heroes in Harrow?
Nothing extra: you pay the price shown for the job and no booking fees on top. The platform's 10% commission is paid by the professional out of the job price. Cancel before work starts and you receive a full refund.
Do landlords need a property licence in Harrow?
Harrow operates selective licensing and operated additional HMO licensing borough-wide until 5 August 2026; the exact coverage of selective licensing is set out on our Harrow page. Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England regardless. Checked against Harrow 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.
A trade professional in Harrow?
Founding heroes get a live, public verification passport — identity, credentials and verified reviews on one page — plus payment-protected jobs at a straight 10%.