Northfield sits within Birmingham City Council, which sets its own HMO standards for room sizes, kitchens and bathrooms. Our designs start from those standards, so the layout we price is designed to meet the council's licensing requirements.
You get one point of contact for the whole job, a fixed price for the agreed specification and a written programme showing when each stage happens.
HMO rules in Birmingham City Council
| Rule | Birmingham City Council |
|---|---|
| Mandatory HMO licence (5+ people) | In force everywhere in England |
| Additional HMO licensing | In force Whole city, 5 June 2023 to 4 June 2028 |
| Selective licensing | In part of the area 25 of the city's 69 wards, 5 June 2023 to 4 June 2028 |
| Article 4 direction for small HMOs | In force Whole city, in force since 8 June 2020 |
Checked October 2026 against Birmingham City Council's HMO licensing page. Schemes change, so we confirm the position for your address before any work starts.
Birmingham City Council has an Article 4 direction across its whole area, so turning a family house in Northfield into a small HMO needs planning permission. We prepare the planning application before any conversion work starts. Seven or more occupants always needs planning permission. Birmingham City Council also runs additional licensing across its whole area (until 4 June 2028), so smaller HMOs with three or four people from two or more households need a licence too.
Communal kitchens and bathrooms in Northfield: what we do
We design and fit communal kitchens and shared bathrooms for HMOs in Northfield, sized to the amenity standards the local council applies to the number of people in the house. Those standards differ between councils, so we check the current version for Northfield before drawing anything.
Fittings for houses in Northfield are chosen for heavy daily use: sealed worktops, wipe-clean wall panels, separate food storage and isolation valves on every fitting. Across the West Midlands, each kitchen gets the heat detection and fire blanket the fire risk assessment calls for.
- Heat detection and fire blanket where required
- Layout sized to your council's amenity standards
- Extract ventilation and certified electrical work
- Isolation valves on every fitting
- Heavy-duty units, sealed worktops and slip-resistant flooring
Communal kitchens and bathrooms near Northfield
- Longbridge 1.3 miles
- Kings Norton 1.8 miles
- Selly Oak 1.9 miles
- Bournbrook 1.9 miles
- Stirchley 2.1 miles
- Bournville 2.1 miles