Selective Licencing – 1 room is 10cm too small?

Move the wall. It will be a pain if they are brick but simple if they are studwork. But then you are future proofed

It's ridiculous. The council can have discretion if the difference is minimal... they obviously choose not to be!

When Newham introduced their licensing consultation Southwark saw a huge influx of tenants from that area. Now that Tower Hamlets is enforcing licenses Southwark are likely to see the same influx again. The 3 beds in Southwark have a larger 3rd bedroom plus more storage space. It is just a fluke of how they were built at the time.

Other landlords I'm aware of are moving the wall. You don't have to move the whole thing, just create an alcove big enough to satisfy the requirement, but don't put a fitted wardrobe in there as that will be not be classed as livable space. It would be worth getting a builder quote and council permission in any case, and you may find the tenants would rather put up with the inconvenience of the works than lose their home.

Do an analysis of whether you can sell and buy a small freehold house outside London in a commuter town. While you might take a hit in the short term, the property you purchase might give you uplift angles and more control of the repairs and maintenance.

Also if your leasehold is approaching 81 years, factor in the additional cost of getting the extension.

In the middle of a housing crisis you take property out of circulation on a minor technicality. You could not make it up!

How about removing the plaster and leaving the studwork exposed, would certainly work with the 11 sq cm room? Daft solution but needs must when the jobsworth devil drives.

Is the Council requirement lawful? I thought the legislation about room sizes only applied to those HMOs that fell under mandatory licencing, i.e. 5 or more residents. Can the Council enforce their own criteria for smaller HMOs? (wasn't there a ruling a few months back that Councils cannot apply their own criteria unless the property is licensable? - I presumed this was mandatory licensable, not selective/additional licencing? - I think it was a landlord association on the South Coast somewhere that won that case?).

If the Council requirements are lawful, then as already suggested, move the stud walls or build an alcove. (or if you have fitted wardrobes, remove these).

Good suggestions, the only one not mentioned is to use gallows brackets and remove a chimney breast (If this is applicable)

I had the same situation and moved the door way back into the hallway. So now some of the hallway is part of the bedroom which I put hooks and a long shelf down. Obviously you may not have a hallway to do this. In our case moving a doorway was a lot less work than moving a wall.

I suggest before you start work you write formally to your local councillor and ask if the council is evicting its own tenants in similar/identical? 3 bed properties that remain in council ownership