Dudley Council is the licensing and planning authority for Sedgley. We check its rules for the exact street before we draw a single partition.
We'll tell you plainly if a house in Sedgley isn't suited to the number of rooms you have in mind, and what it would take to make it work.
HMO rules in Dudley Council
| Rule | Dudley Council |
|---|---|
| Mandatory HMO licence (5+ people) | In force everywhere in England |
| Additional HMO licensing | Not confirmed |
| Selective licensing | Not confirmed |
| Article 4 direction for small HMOs | In force Whole borough, since 15 September 2023 |
Checked October 2026 against Dudley Council's HMO licensing page. Schemes change, so we confirm the position for your address before any work starts.
Dudley Council has an Article 4 direction across its whole area, so turning a family house in Sedgley 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. We couldn't confirm whether Dudley Council runs additional licensing, so we check with the council for the address.
How we handle HMO loft conversion work in Sedgley
Plenty of houses have roof space that could hold extra bedrooms, but in Sedgley 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 Sedgley 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
- Planning and permitted development position checked first
- Structural design and building control application
- New staircase and protected escape route
- Updated floor plans for the licence file