We plan each HMO loft conversion job in Shropshire around the local council's amenity standards, which set out kitchen, bathroom and room-size requirements for shared houses.
Licensing and planning for HMOs in Shropshire is handled by the district, borough, city or unitary councils, not one county-wide body. That's why the same house can need different paperwork depending on which side of a council boundary it sits.
HMO rules across Shropshire's councils
| Council | Additional licensing | Selective licensing | Article 4 (small HMOs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shropshire Council | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Telford & Wrekin Council | None found A planned borough-wide scheme was revoked in September 2026 | Not confirmed | Due to start Borough-wide, due to start 27 February 2027 |
Checked October 2026. Mandatory licensing for five or more people applies in every council. Schemes change, so we confirm the position for the address before work starts.
We found no Article 4 directions for small HMOs in force among Shropshire's councils that we could confirm. Large HMOs always need planning permission. Article 4 directions are due to start or proposed in: Telford & Wrekin Council. We found no additional licensing schemes in force that we could confirm, so the mandatory licence for five or more people is the main one to plan for.
Loft conversions for HMOs in Shropshire: what we do
Plenty of houses have roof space that could hold extra bedrooms, but in Shropshire we always measure the headroom first, because floor under a 1.5 m ceiling does not count towards room size. That tells you how many rooms the loft can really add.
A loft room usually creates a third storey, so we plan the protected escape route and alarm upgrades for the whole Shropshire house, not just the new floor. We also check the occupant count, because seven or more residents needs planning permission anywhere in Shropshire.
- Headroom survey and countable floor area calculation
- Alarm extended and doors upgraded on lower floors
- New staircase and protected escape route
- Updated floor plans for the licence file
- Structural design and building control application