A three-bed home along Norbiton's Ernest Road has been converted into a six-tenant House in Multiple Occupation, or HMO.

The council awarded the property's HMO license to applicant Lez Silver on 6 March.

Floor plans show the property's smallest bedrooms are 10.2 square metres including the self-contained bathroom.

The Housing Act 2004 outlines a minimum size for a single adult's bedroom as 6.52 square metres.

However, Kingston Council has its own stricter HMO requirements, where a single-occupant bedroom must be at least 10 square metres, or 13 square metres if the bedroom contains kitchen facilities.

The smaller room sizes are only permitted in the borough's HMOs if a dining room or lounge is provided, which is not the case for Ernest Road.

The new Norbiton HMO's floorplan (Photo: AL Design via Kingston Council)

The property's 7.5 square-metre kitchen, shared between five people, is just above the legally-required seven square metres.

A five-tenant HMO kitchen must have:

• an oven and grill
• a four-ring cooker
• a worktop at least 2 metres by 0.6 metres
• a sink
• an extractor fan
• a storage cabinet for each tenant at least 0.7 metres by 0.6 metres by 0.5 metres.
• a microwave
• a fridge-freezer
• a Grade D smoke alarm

On top of regular kitchen requirements a six-tenant kitchen would need:

• an additional oven, grill or microwave
• an additional sink or dishwasher
• a worktop at least 3 metres by 0.6 metres
• a Grade A smoke alarm

The three-bedroom property was previously purchased for £423,000 in September 2020, before undergoing a loft conversion to add the larger bedroom.

Kingston house prices have increased by 8.8% since September 2020 according to Land Registry data.

Mr Silver's license application can be found here.