Planning drawings for a house in Stratford cost £795 with us, fixed, from the laser survey to the submitted application, with Newham's householder fee of £548 paid to the council. For a house turning into a small HMO, our HMO drawings are from £795 drawings + £150 survey (£945 total). What makes Stratford different from the rest of Newham is a line on the map: until December 2024 part of it was planned by the London Legacy Development Corporation, and that boundary still changes the rules for HMOs and the local plan that applies.
On this page
Which planning authority covers my Stratford address?
Newham, for every address, since 1 December 2024. Before then the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) was the planning authority for the Olympic Park and the land around it. On that date its planning powers returned to Newham, which now decides all applications there (Newham, LLDC).
The policies did not all move with it. In the former LLDC area, the LLDC Local Plan and its guidance still apply, alongside the London Plan, until Newham's new local plan replaces them. Elsewhere in Stratford, Newham's own plan applies. The boundary is on the adopted policies map, and we check your address against it before anything is drawn, because it decides which policies the officer quotes back to you.
Do I need permission to turn a Stratford house into an HMO?
It depends on that same boundary. Newham made an Article 4 direction in 2012, in force since 31 July 2013, removing the right to change a family house into a small HMO of three to six people. The confirmation notice says it applies to the whole borough "save for the area within the control of the London Legacy Development Corporation" (Newham confirmation notice).
So outside the former LLDC area, a small HMO needs planning permission. Inside it, the 2013 direction does not reach. We found no later direction covering that area on Newham's Article 4 page, but the council can make one, so we confirm the current position for your address before you rely on it. Large HMOs of seven or more always need permission, anywhere.
Planning is only half of it. Newham's additional HMO licensing scheme, running from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2027, covers every ward except Royal Victoria and Stratford Olympic Park; Stratford and Maryland wards are inside it (Newham designation notice). A licence and a planning permission are separate decisions, and having one does not give you the other. Our HMO guide explains both.
Is my Stratford street in a conservation area?
Probably not, if it is a residential street. Newham has nine conservation areas, and three are in Stratford: Stratford St John's, around the Broadway and St John's Church; University, straddling Romford Road at its junctions with Water Lane and Vicarage Lane around the University of East London; and Sugar House Lane, by the Lea in the former LLDC area (Newham conservation areas). All three are mostly civic, commercial or former industrial. Newham's Article 4 directions on house extensions apply in Durham Road, Romford Road and Woodgrange, none of them in Stratford, so most Stratford houses keep normal permitted development rights.
House or flat?
Of the 132,600 homes on Newham's council tax list, 50,910 are terraced houses and 77,450 are flats or maisonettes (VOA, table CTSOP3.1). Around Stratford, the newer blocks near the station and park are flats, which have no householder permitted development rights; any outside change there is a full application. Older Victorian terraced streets, such as those around Maryland, are more often single houses, where a single-storey rear extension may be permitted development or go through larger home extension prior approval.
Prior approval is well used in Newham. In the year to 30 June 2026 the council decided 112 larger home extension notifications: in 89 prior approval was not required, 7 were granted and 16 refused, so 96 could go ahead (MHCLG, table PS1). Our drawings and notification for that route are from £525, with the council's £249 fee. The refusals are a reminder that the neighbours' light and outlook still decide the outcome, so we draw the neighbouring windows from the survey and show the effect on them before the notice goes in. If the house was split into flats in the past, even informally, tell us at the start: the route depends on its lawful use, not on how it is lived in today.
What does Newham reject at validation?
Three things trip applicants in Stratford, as anywhere in the borough (Newham planning application requirements):
- drawings marked "do not scale", which the council will not accept;
- a missing submission checklist: Newham wants its own form, mapping each document to its requirement;
- an application sent straight to the council rather than through the Planning Portal, which it accepts only in exceptional cases and then with a £60 administration fee.
Newham's Altering and Extending your Home guide (February 2018) adds design points that shape Stratford drawings. It asks roof alterations to keep street-facing roof slopes, ridge lines and chimneys, and to retain parapet walls and eaves where practicable (Newham SPD). It also says officers find it extremely helpful to receive a photograph from the back of the garden showing both neighbouring houses, and a 3D view or isometric drawing. We include both.
What does a Stratford application cost in total?
An illustrative example, not a real job: a single-storey rear extension to a terraced house in Maryland that needs a householder application.
| Item | Paid to | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Complete planning drawing service | Us | £795 |
| Householder planning fee | Newham Council | £548 |
| Written pre-application advice (optional) | Newham Council | £180 |
Newham's householder pre-application advice costs £180 in total for written advice, and £144 more for a 30-minute online meeting first. Building regulations drawings follow permission, or come together in our planning, building regs and structural package from £1,395. Our Newham page lists the rest of the borough's rules, and HMO conversions in Newham covers HMO schemes.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Newham take to decide? In the year to 30 June 2026 it decided 227 of 238 householder applications, excluding prior approvals, within 8 weeks (MHCLG, table PS2).
Who do I apply to for a house near the Olympic Park? Newham. The LLDC stopped being a planning authority on 30 November 2024, though its local plan still guides decisions in its former area.
Is converting a house into self-contained flats the same as an HMO? No. Flats are a separate planning question with their own Newham policy; our East Ham post covers it.
Do Forest Gate's Article 4 rules apply in Stratford? No. The Woodgrange Estate direction covers that estate in Forest Gate only; our Forest Gate post explains it.
If the application goes through the Planning Portal, the Portal adds its own service charge: nothing, £99 or £149 including VAT, depending on the application type and complexity, paid to the Portal at submission and not normally refunded with a council fee (Ashford Borough Council, Planning Portal service charges, 11 September 2026). It is not ours and not the council's. Other submission routes exist; where your council accepts one without a charge, we can use it.
