Southwark
Verified local trades for Southwark
London Heroes covers Southwark 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 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 Southwark 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 Southwark
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.
Southwark operates additional HMO licensing borough-wide until 1 March 2027 and 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 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.
Letting out a property in more than one? Check any London address — all 33 boroughs in one place, each dated.
Verified Heroes
Every Hero's identity is checked by our team before they can take work. Each credential a Hero adds is reviewed too, and any expiry date it carries is checked every day.
Live Hero Passport
See a Hero's verified identity, each credential our team has verified, and any expiry date each one carries.
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 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 Southwark 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 Southwark?
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 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%.