Flats to Rent in Bromley

Renting in Bromley

Bromley is London's largest borough by area and one of the few with no Underground station, so a commute from here starts on a Southeastern, Thameslink or Southern train, the Windrush line (London Overground) or a tram. On the ONS measure in the table above, rents are below the London average for every size of home, and lower overall than in Lewisham and Greenwich next door. Council tax is close to average: Band D is £2,140.04 in 2026/27, about £72 a year more than the London average of £2,068 (MHCLG).

Fewer people rent here than in most of London. At the 2021 Census, 68.5% of Bromley's households owned their home, 17.4% rented privately and 13.2% rented from a council or housing association, among about 330,000 residents (ONS). The north of the borough is suburban London; most of the rest is Metropolitan Green Belt, and about 30% of its land is farmland.

Licensing and shared houses

Bromley Council runs only the national mandatory HMO licence, for homes where five or more people from two or more households share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet; it has no additional or selective scheme. A flat or house let to one household, or to three or four sharers, needs no council licence. Landlords should know one more rule: since 1 September 2022 (earlier in Biggin Hill and Darwin wards) an Article 4 direction has removed the right to turn a family house into a small shared house without planning permission (Bromley Council).

The neighbourhoods

Penge, Anerley and Crystal Palace

The north-west corner has the borough's only Overground stations, Penge West, Anerley and Crystal Palace, on the Windrush line through Canada Water to Highbury & Islington. Crystal Palace also has Southern trains, and Penge East has Southeastern trains to Victoria. Penge High Street runs from near Penge West towards Kent House station, a short walk south of Penge East.

Crystal Palace Park, in Bromley, keeps the Victorian dinosaur sculptures completed in 1854 and the National Sports Centre. The Crystal Palace Park Trust took over the park in 2023, and the main regeneration works, which began in May 2025, restored the dinosaurs, the Italian Terraces and the upper lake. They were completed in summer 2026, with finishing touches to the terraces and landscaping still to come.

Beckenham

Beckenham Junction has Southeastern trains to Victoria and is the end of a tram route to Croydon and Wimbledon, which also stops at Beckenham Road, Avenue Road and Birkbeck; a second route to Croydon and Wimbledon starts at Elmers End. The High Street has the shops, and Kelsey Park is behind it. Beckenham Place Park, with its swimming lake, is just over the boundary in Lewisham, which runs it. Clock House, Kent House, New Beckenham and Elmers End are among its other stations.

Bromley town

Bromley South, in Zone 5, has Southeastern trains to Victoria, some without stopping, and Thameslink trains to Blackfriars and the City. Bromley North, in Zone 4, is a branch with a shuttle to Grove Park, where you change for London Bridge and Charing Cross. It has had no through trains since 1990, and no trains at all on Sundays. Between the two stations are the High Street, the Glades shopping centre and the Churchill Theatre.

Chislehurst

Chislehurst station has Southeastern trains towards London Bridge, Charing Cross and Cannon Street. Chislehurst Caves, near the station, are about 22 miles of man-made tunnels dug for chalk and flint. About 15,000 people sheltered in them during the Second World War, and they are now open for guided tours. Chislehurst Common is in the village centre, and Scadbury Park, a local nature reserve, is on the eastern edge of Chislehurst.

Orpington, Petts Wood and the Crays

Orpington station, in Zone 6, has Southeastern trains to Victoria, Charing Cross and Cannon Street, and Thameslink trains at peak times. The borough's two grammar schools, St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School and Newstead Wood School, are both in Orpington. The Princess Royal University Hospital is at Farnborough, just south-west of the town, and High Elms Country Park beyond it. Petts Wood, one stop towards London, and St Mary Cray, to the north-east, have their own stations.

Hayes and West Wickham

Hayes is the end of the Hayes line, and West Wickham, Eden Park and Elmers End are on it, with Southeastern trains via London Bridge to Charing Cross, and to Cannon Street at peak times. Hayes Common, south of Hayes station, is open heath and woodland.

Downe and Biggin Hill

South of the built-up area the borough is fields, woods and villages, and a small part of it is in the Kent Downs National Landscape. Charles Darwin lived at Down House, in Downe, from 1842 until his death in 1882 and wrote On the Origin of Species there; English Heritage runs it. Biggin Hill, further south, was an RAF fighter station in the Battle of Britain and is now London Biggin Hill Airport, used by business jets; St George's RAF Chapel of Remembrance is beside it. Neither village has a station, so journeys start by car or bus: the 146 runs from Downe to Bromley, the R8 links Downe and Biggin Hill with Orpington, the 246 and 320 run from Biggin Hill to Bromley, and the 464 to the tram at New Addington.

Getting around

There is no tube and no Elizabeth line. Most of the borough is on Southeastern routes into Victoria, London Bridge, Charing Cross or Cannon Street. Thameslink runs from Bromley South and several other stations to Blackfriars and the City (from Orpington only at peak times), the Windrush line from the north-west corner, and trams from Beckenham to Croydon and Wimbledon. Zones run from 3 and 4 in the north-west to 6 at Orpington, St Mary Cray, Chelsfield and Knockholt. Which line your nearest station is on matters more here than distance to central London, so check your commute on the TfL Journey Planner at the time you would travel before you sign.

Schools

Bromley's two state grammar schools are St Olave's and St Saviour's, which takes boys at 11, and Newstead Wood, which takes girls; both are in Orpington and admit by entrance test. The other state secondaries include Bishop Justus Church of England School, Bullers Wood School, Charles Darwin School, Chislehurst School for Girls, Coopers School, Darrick Wood School and several Harris academies. Ofsted no longer gives a single overall grade, so read each school's latest report and its admissions criteria before choosing a street.

Parks and open space

Crystal Palace Park, with its dinosaurs and terraces, is in the north-west corner. The larger open spaces include High Elms Country Park, Scadbury Park, Chislehurst Common, Hayes Common and the farmland around Downe. Beckenham Place Park is named after Beckenham but is in Lewisham.

Safety

A borough figure says little about a single road. Use police.uk to see reported crime month by month for the street you are looking at and the ones around it.

Who it suits

Bromley suits renters who want more space for their rent than inner London gives and who work near Victoria, London Bridge, Blackfriars or Cannon Street, where the trains go. It suits families looking at the grammar schools, provided they know places go by test score, and that Newstead Wood gives priority to girls living within nine miles of the school. It suits less well anyone who needs the tube, works in west or north London, or would live in Downe or Biggin Hill without a car.

Useful links

Bromley Council: bromley.gov.uk (council tax, HMO licensing, school admissions)
Crime by street: police.uk
Journeys: tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey
Crystal Palace Park: crystalpalacepark.org.uk

The listings above are homes and rooms advertised by their landlords in Bromley now. Ask each landlord which station is nearest and which London terminal its trains run to: in Bromley that decides the commute.