Southwark
Verified local trades for Southwark
London Heroes covers Southwark 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 Southwark
Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England. Southwark may also operate additional or selective licensing.
- Selective licensing
- In operation. Selective licensing was introduced in two phases and now covers 19 wards. Southwark's own statutory designation declarations, fetched directly from southwark.gov.uk, confirm: phase 1 made 28 October 2021, in force 1 March 2022, ceases 1 March 2027 (same dates as the additional scheme); phase 2 made 6 December 2022, confirmed by the Secretary of State 14 June 2023, in force 1 November 2023, ceases 31 October 2028.Coverage: Phase 1: Champion Hill, Faraday, Goose Green, Newington, St Giles. Phase 2: North Walworth, Nunhead & Queens Road, Old Kent Road, Peckham, Camberwell Green, Chaucer, Dulwich Hill, Dulwich Wood, London Bridge & West Bermondsey, Peckham Rye, Rotherhithe, Rye Lane, South Bermondsey, Surrey Docks.Designated: Phase 1 made 28 October 2021, in force from 1 March 2022, ceasing 1 March 2027. Phase 2 made 6 December 2022, confirmed by the Secretary of State 14 June 2023, in force from 1 November 2023, ceasing 31 October 2028.
- Additional HMO licensing
- In operation. A borough-wide additional licensing scheme covers HMOs not caught by mandatory licensing. Southwark's own statutory designation declaration, fetched directly from southwark.gov.uk, confirms: made 28 October 2021, in force 1 March 2022, ceases 1 March 2027, whole borough. Southwark states there is no charge for section 257 HMO licences.Coverage: Borough-wide (all wards)Designated: Made 28 October 2021; in force from 1 March 2022; ceases to have effect 1 March 2027 — per the council's own statutory designation declaration.
Southwark's split is unusual: additional licensing is borough-wide, but selective licensing covers 19 of the borough's wards rather than all of them — so a single-household let in an unlisted ward may need no licence while an HMO on the same street does. Licences usually last five years, but Southwark states that properties 'with evidence of poor management or other housing related problems will only be given a 1 or 3-year licence, depending on the issue'. The council provides an interactive map so owners can check a specific address, which is the safest step given the ward-by-ward split.
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 SouthwarkCouncil’s licensing pages before applying or paying.
What Southwark is built of — and what that means for repairs
Southwark is one of London's most mixed boroughs by tenure and age. It has a very large social housing stock in post-war and 1960s-70s estates through Walworth, Bermondsey and the Old Kent Road corridor, alongside dense Victorian and Georgian terraces in Camberwell, Peckham, Nunhead and Bermondsey, many long since converted into flats. Dulwich holds substantial Georgian and Victorian villas and interwar housing, while Rotherhithe, Surrey Quays, London Bridge and Elephant and Castle carry large volumes of 1980s-onward and very recent high-density apartment development.
Common repair issues in Southwark
- Solid-wall damp, rising damp at basement and lower-ground level, and failed historic damp-proofing in Georgian and Victorian terraces
- Flat conversions of terraced houses with poor sound separation, inadequate fire compartmentation and shared-services complexity — directly relevant to additional licensing conditions
- Communal boilers, risers, roofs and lifts in large post-war estates, where leaseholders face major-works bills and cannot commission work independently
- Conservation-area and listed-building constraints across Dulwich, Bermondsey Street, Camberwell and parts of Peckham
- Building-safety, cladding and fire-door obligations in the newer high-rise blocks around Rotherhithe, Surrey Quays and Elephant and Castle
- Basement and lower-ground-floor conversions in Victorian stock with underpinning, tanking and drainage implications
Areas we cover in Southwark
- Peckham
- Camberwell
- Dulwich
- Bermondsey
- Rotherhithe
- Walworth
- Nunhead
- Elephant and Castle
Nearby boroughs
London Heroes covers every neighbouring borough the same way — verified trades, day or night.
Verified Heroes
Every Hero's identity, insurance and trade credentials are checked before they can take work — and expiry-tracked afterwards.
Live Hero Passport
See exactly which checks a Hero has passed, when we last checked, and when each credential expires.
Secure payments
Payments are handled through the platform with a full record of every transaction. No cash-in-hand ambiguity.
Local & accountable
A registered London company with a real complaints process — not an anonymous listings site.
Services in Southwark
Ordered for what’s common in Southwark’s housing — every service is available to book here, day or night.
Browse all servicesStraight answers for Southwark
How do I find a verified plumber or electrician in Southwark?
Describe the job at londonheroes.co.uk/request. Every professional on London Heroes has passed a human-reviewed identity check, holds verified credentials (Gas Safe for gas work, competent-person scheme membership for electrical work, public liability insurance) displayed live on their public Hero Passport, and is monitored daily for credential expiry. London Heroes covers Southwark around the clock.
How does payment protection work on London Heroes?
You pay when you book, but the money is held securely and only released to the tradesperson when you confirm the work is complete. If something goes wrong before you confirm, raising a dispute freezes the money automatically while a named member of the team investigates — outcomes include partial or full refund. The platform fee is a transparent 10%, paid by the professional.
Are the tradespeople on London Heroes vetted?
Yes — and by a human, not an algorithm. Verification includes photographic ID, a selfie holding the document, business registration for limited companies, and evidence for every declared credential. A lapsed credential 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 Southwark?
Nothing extra: you pay the professional's quoted price 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 Southwark?
Southwark operates additional HMO licensing borough-wide until 1 March 2027 and selective licensing; the exact coverage of selective licensing is set out on our Southwark page. Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England regardless. Checked against Southwark 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 Southwark?
Founding heroes get a live, public verification passport — identity, credentials and verified reviews on one page — plus payment-protected jobs at a straight 10%.