Flats to Rent in Lewisham

Renting in Lewisham

Lewisham is an inner south-east London borough that runs from Deptford, on a short stretch of the Thames, south through New Cross, Brockley, Lewisham town centre and Lee to Catford, Forest Hill and Sydenham, and on to Bellingham, Downham and Grove Park on the Bromley border. On the ONS measure in the table above, its average rent is well below the London average. Council tax is not: Band D is £2,237.33 in 2026/27, against a London average of £2,068 (MHCLG), about £170 a year more.

Lewisham also licenses private landlords. Since 1 July 2024, a selective licensing scheme has covered nearly all privately rented homes in the borough, with some areas left out, among them Telegraph Hill and parts of Blackheath; shared houses need an HMO licence instead. The council's website has a map of the areas covered, and you can ask a landlord for their licence before you sign.

The neighbourhoods

Deptford

Deptford High Street has a street market on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, selling fish, fruit and vegetables, fabric and household goods. Beside Deptford station, Deptford Market Yard fills the restored arches of the 1835 carriage ramp built for the London and Greenwich Railway, London's first railway. The Albany arts centre is on Douglas Way, St Paul's is one of London's baroque parish churches, and Trinity Laban's dance building by Herzog & de Meuron, winner of the 2003 Stirling Prize, stands on Creekside. Deptford station has Southeastern trains to London Bridge; Deptford Bridge DLR station is just over the boundary in Greenwich. Housing is a mix of council estates, Victorian terraces and new blocks near the creek and the river.

New Cross and Telegraph Hill

New Cross is home to Goldsmiths, University of London, which brings a large student population. The Amersham Arms on New Cross Road is a pub with a live music room. New Cross station has Southeastern trains and is the end of one branch of the Overground's Windrush line; New Cross Gate has Southern trains and the Windrush line towards Crystal Palace and West Croydon. The main roads through New Cross carry heavy traffic. Telegraph Hill, just to the south, is a conservation area of Victorian houses built on the Haberdashers' Company's estate, with a hilltop park that looks over central London; it is one of the areas left out of the selective licensing scheme.

Brockley and Crofton Park

Brockley has large Victorian houses, many split into flats, much of it inside the Brockley conservation area. Brockley Market runs on Saturday mornings in the Lewisham College car park on Lewisham Way, and Hilly Fields, between Brockley and Ladywell, has a stone circle, a café and views over London. Brockley station has the Windrush line to Canada Water (for the Jubilee line) and Southern trains to London Bridge. Further south, Crofton Park has Thameslink trains to Blackfriars and the Jack Studio Theatre, which shares a building with the Brockley Jack pub.

Lewisham town centre, Ladywell and Hither Green

Lewisham town centre has a street market on the high street that runs seven days a week, the 1970s Lewisham Shopping Centre and the borough's main interchange: the DLR and Southeastern trains. Landsec's plan to rebuild the shopping centre in phases with more than 1,700 homes was approved in October 2025 and is expected to take up to a decade, so parts of the centre will be a building site for years. Ladywell, to the south-west, is a residential area along Ladywell Fields and the River Ravensbourne. Hither Green, to the south-east, is mostly Victorian and Edwardian terraces around its station on the Southeastern lines.

Blackheath and Lee

Blackheath village and station are on the Lewisham side; the heath itself is shared with Greenwich. The village has independent shops and restaurants, and Blackheath Halls, a concert hall from 1895 now run by Trinity Laban, is a short walk away on Lee Road, just over the boundary in Greenwich. Blackheath station has Southeastern trains to central London. Lee, to the south, is quieter, with Victorian and Edwardian houses and Manor House Gardens, whose manor house is Lee's public library. Many homes in both are family houses rather than flats.

Catford

Catford is the borough's civic centre, with the town hall, Catford Broadway's street market and the Broadway Theatre, a Grade II listed theatre from 1932 that reopened in 2023 after refurbishment. The South Circular runs through the middle of it, which makes the town centre noisy and congested. Catford station has Thameslink trains to Blackfriars and Catford Bridge has Southeastern trains to London Bridge and Charing Cross. Housing is mostly Victorian and inter-war terraces.

Forest Hill, Honor Oak and Sydenham

Forest Hill has the Horniman Museum and Gardens: free natural history, anthropology and musical instrument galleries and gardens with views over London, with separate charges for the aquarium and butterfly house. Honor Oak is split with Southwark; One Tree Hill is on the Southwark side, while Blythe Hill Fields, to the south-east, is a Lewisham park. Sydenham has Sydenham Wells Park and Mayow Park; Crystal Palace Park is over the boundary in Bromley and Sydenham Hill Wood is in Southwark. Honor Oak Park, Forest Hill and Sydenham stations all have the Windrush line and Southern trains to London Bridge. These are family areas of Victorian and Edwardian houses and flats.

Bellingham, Downham and Grove Park

The south of the borough is mostly inter-war estates of terraced and semi-detached houses, built by the London County Council, with more houses than flats. Beckenham Place Park is run by Lewisham Council and is the borough's largest park, with ancient woodland and a lake open for booked swimming. Bellingham has Thameslink trains and Grove Park has Southeastern trains.

Getting around

Lewisham has no Tube. The DLR runs from Lewisham and Elverson Road through Canary Wharf to Bank, with some peak trains to Stratford; Lewisham to Canary Wharf takes about 17 minutes (TfL Journey Planner, morning peak). Southeastern trains from Lewisham reach London Bridge in about 8 minutes and continue to Cannon Street and Charing Cross. The Overground's Windrush line runs from New Cross, New Cross Gate, Brockley, Honor Oak Park, Forest Hill and Sydenham north through Canada Water to Shoreditch, Dalston and Highbury and Islington. Thameslink trains on the Catford Loop call at Crofton Park, Catford and Bellingham on the way to Blackfriars. A Bakerloo line extension to New Cross Gate and Lewisham has been proposed for years, but it has no funding and no start date. Check a specific commute on the TfL Journey Planner before you sign.

Schools

State secondaries include Prendergast School on Hilly Fields and the two other Prendergast schools, Haberdashers' Hatcham College in New Cross, Sydenham School (girls) and Forest Hill School (boys), which share a sixth form, Addey and Stanhope School in Deptford, and St Matthew Academy, a Catholic all-through school, near Blackheath. Independent schools include St Dunstan's College in Catford and Sydenham & Dulwich Girls GDST, formerly Sydenham High School. 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

Beyond Beckenham Place Park, Hilly Fields, Blythe Hill Fields and Telegraph Hill Park are hilltop parks with views of central London. At Ladywell Fields the Ravensbourne has been taken out of its concrete channel, and the park is part of the Waterlink Way, a walking and cycling route from Sydenham to Deptford. Manor House Gardens in Lee has a pond, an ice house and a walled garden.

Safety

Crime concentrates around the busiest town centres and stations, including Lewisham, Catford, New Cross and Deptford High Street, and along the main roads. Residential streets away from them are usually quieter. For a specific street, the police's crime map at police.uk shows reported crime month by month.

Who it suits

Lewisham suits people who work in Canary Wharf or the City and want the DLR or a short train to London Bridge; students and sharers near Goldsmiths in New Cross and Deptford; and families who want Victorian houses and parks in Brockley, Forest Hill, Sydenham or Lee. It suits people less well if they need the Tube, want a quiet home in central Catford or New Cross, where the main roads are busy, or are counting on the Bakerloo line extension, which is not funded.

Useful links

Lewisham Council: lewisham.gov.uk (council tax, selective licensing, school admissions)
Crime by street: police.uk
Journeys: tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey
Horniman Museum and Gardens: horniman.ac.uk

The listings above are homes and rooms advertised by their landlords in Lewisham now. Check which station each one is near: the DLR, the Windrush line, Southeastern and Thameslink go to different parts of London.