Acocks Green 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.
We cover B27 and the neighbouring postcodes, with the same standards in Acocks Green as anywhere else in the West Midlands.
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 Acocks Green 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.
Our HMO loft conversion service in Acocks Green
Plenty of houses have roof space that could hold extra bedrooms, but in Acocks Green 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 Acocks Green house, not just the new floor. We also check the occupant count, because seven or more residents needs planning permission anywhere in the West Midlands.
- Alarm extended and doors upgraded on lower floors
- Headroom survey and countable floor area calculation
- Updated floor plans for the licence file
- Structural design and building control application
- New staircase and protected escape route