Flats to Rent in Lambeth

Renting in Lambeth

Lambeth is a long, narrow borough. It runs south from the Thames at Waterloo and the South Bank through Vauxhall, Kennington, Stockwell and Brixton to Clapham, Herne Hill, Streatham and West Norwood, so it covers Zone 1 flats by the river and Victorian and Edwardian family streets in Zones 2 and 3. On the ONS measure in the table above, its average rent is above the London average. Council tax is close to average: Band D is £2,047.11 in 2026/27, against a London average of £2,068 (MHCLG).

Most private rented homes need a licence. Selective licensing, brought in over two phases from September 2024 and September 2025, covers every ward except Vauxhall and Waterloo & South Bank, for homes let to one household or to no more than two unrelated sharers. Shared homes with three or more people that fall outside mandatory HMO licensing are covered by borough-wide additional licensing, under a designation that runs from 9 December 2021 to 8 December 2026; the council had not announced a renewal by the end of September 2026, so check its HMO licensing pages for the current position (Lambeth Council). Ask the landlord for the licence before you sign.

The neighbourhoods

Waterloo and the South Bank

The riverside east of Westminster Bridge holds the London Eye, the Southbank Centre (the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery), BFI Southbank and the National Theatre, and the Old Vic and the Young Vic are inland on The Cut. Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury's London home, stands by Lambeth Bridge. Waterloo station has the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and Waterloo & City lines and South Western Railway trains; Lambeth North is on the Bakerloo line. Rentals are mostly flats, in older council and housing association blocks and newer towers, and the streets near the river and the station are busy most of the day.

Vauxhall and Nine Elms

Vauxhall has the Victoria line, South Western Railway trains and a large bus station. The Royal Vauxhall Tavern on Kennington Lane was listed Grade II in 2015, partly for its long history as an LGBTQ+ venue, and the area around it has late-night bars and clubs. Nine Elms, to the west, is mostly in Wandsworth: most of its riverside towers, the US Embassy and Battersea Power Station are over the boundary, though Nine Elms station, on the Northern line extension, is on the Lambeth side. Rentals near the river are mainly new-build flats, and traffic around Vauxhall Cross is heavy.

Kennington and Oval

Kennington has Georgian and Victorian terraces around Kennington Park, the former Kennington Common, where the Chartists held their mass meeting in 1848. The Oval, home of Surrey County Cricket Club since 1845 and the first ground in England to host Test cricket, brings crowds on match days. Oval station is on the Northern line; Kennington station, though named after the area, is just over the boundary in Southwark, as is Elephant and Castle. Rentals range from flats in period houses to large council estates.

Stockwell

Stockwell has the Northern and Victoria lines at one station. The streets around South Lambeth Road are known as Little Portugal, for its Portuguese cafés, bakeries and restaurants. Housing mixes Victorian terraces, many converted into flats, with large post-war council estates.

Brixton

Brixton has been a centre of London's African-Caribbean community since the Windrush years after the war, and the Black Cultural Archives, on Windrush Square, records that history. Brixton Market takes in the street stalls of Electric Avenue and the listed covered arcades of Market Row, Reliance Arcade and Brixton Village, with grocers, fishmongers and many small restaurants. The Ritzy opened in 1911 as one of England's earliest purpose-built cinemas, and the O2 Academy Brixton, which holds about 5,000, reopened in April 2024 after a fatal crowd crush in December 2022. Brixton is the southern end of the Victoria line, and Brixton rail station has Southeastern trains to Victoria. Rents have risen as the area has gentrified, a real source of tension with long-standing residents, and the streets around the station, Coldharbour Lane and the Academy are crowded and noisy late at night.

Clapham

Most of Clapham is in Lambeth, including Clapham High Street, the Old Town, and Clapham North and Clapham Common stations on the Northern line. Over half of Clapham Common lies in Wandsworth, but Lambeth owns and manages all of it: three ponds, a Victorian bandstand, cafés and playgrounds. Clapham South station, at the Common's southern corner, is just over the boundary in Wandsworth, and Clapham Junction is in Wandsworth too. Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road stations are on the Overground's Windrush line. The High Street's bars are busy at weekends. About half the homes in the Clapham wards are in purpose-built blocks, and most of the rest are houses or flats converted from them, many let to sharers (Census 2021).

Herne Hill and Tulse Hill

Herne Hill straddles Lambeth and Southwark: the station, Railton Road and Brockwell Park are on the Lambeth side, while Dulwich is in Southwark. Brockwell Park has Brockwell Lido, a 50-metre unheated open-air pool opened in 1937 and open all year, and views towards central London from the top of the hill. Herne Hill Market is held by the station on Sundays. Herne Hill station has Southeastern trains to Victoria and Thameslink trains through Blackfriars, and Tulse Hill has Southern and Thameslink trains. There is no Tube; the nearest is Brixton.

Streatham

Streatham is strung along Streatham High Road, part of the busy A23. It has no Tube but three stations: Streatham Hill and Streatham Common have Southern trains to Victoria and London Bridge, and Streatham has Thameslink trains through Blackfriars as well as Southern trains to London Bridge. Streatham Common has woodland and a local nature reserve, with the Rookery, a listed formal garden, beside it, and Streatham Ice and Leisure Centre has an Olympic-size rink and two pools. About six in ten homes are houses or flats converted from them, many Victorian and Edwardian, and most of the rest are in purpose-built blocks (Census 2021).

West Norwood and Gipsy Hill

West Norwood is mainly residential. West Norwood Cemetery, opened in 1837, is one of London's seven great Victorian cemeteries, with dozens of listed monuments. West Norwood and Gipsy Hill stations have Southern trains to Victoria and London Bridge; there is no Tube or Overground. Crystal Palace Park and station, just beyond Gipsy Hill, are in Bromley. These are among the quieter parts of the borough, with more houses and fewer late-night venues than the north.

Getting around

North of Brixton and Clapham, Lambeth has the Tube: four lines at Waterloo, the Bakerloo line at Lambeth North, the Northern line at Nine Elms and from Oval to Clapham Common, and the Victoria line at Vauxhall, Stockwell and Brixton. South of them there is none, and journeys are by Southern, Southeastern and Thameslink trains or by bus to Brixton. Journey times depend heavily on the station you live near, so check a specific commute on the TfL Journey Planner before you sign.

Schools

State secondaries include Dunraven School (all-through, ages 4 to 18) and Bishop Thomas Grant Catholic Secondary School in Streatham, La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls' School in Clapham Park, Ark Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton, Lilian Baylis Technology School in Kennington, and Elmgreen School and the Norwood School in West Norwood. Streatham & Clapham High School is an independent girls' school. Falling pupil numbers have closed some Lambeth secondaries in recent years. Faith and independent schools set their own admissions rules, and popular primaries can have small distance catchments, so read each school's admissions criteria and its latest Ofsted report before choosing a street for a school.

Parks and open space

Clapham Common, Brockwell Park and Streatham Common are the largest open spaces. Kennington Park, Archbishop's Park by Lambeth Palace, the Rookery and West Norwood Cemetery add more, and the Thames Path follows the river from Vauxhall to the South Bank.

Safety

Crime concentrates around the busiest stations, town centres and nightlife, including Brixton, Vauxhall, Clapham High Street and the South Bank. For a specific street, the police's crime map at police.uk shows reported crime month by month.

Who it suits

Lambeth suits people who work in the West End, Westminster or the City and want the Victoria or Northern line from Brixton, Stockwell, Vauxhall, Oval or Clapham; people who want theatres, music venues and markets nearby; and families who want Victorian houses near Brockwell Park or Streatham Common and will commute by train. It suits people less well if they need the Tube in the south of the borough, or want a quiet street near Brixton, Clapham High Street or Vauxhall at night.

Useful links

Lambeth Council: lambeth.gov.uk (council tax, property licensing, school admissions)
Crime by street: police.uk
Journeys: tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey
Black Cultural Archives: blackculturalarchives.org

The listings above are homes and rooms advertised by their landlords in Lambeth now. Check which line or station each one is near: the north of the borough runs on the Tube, the south on National Rail.