Yes, but in Kennington almost every extension needs planning permission. There are hundreds of listed buildings in and around the district. Conservation areas cover most of it. The clay underneath shifts with the weather. Most homes are flats, which have the fewest automatic rights to extend of any kind of home, so very little can be done without asking first.
Historic England lists 288 buildings in and around Kennington. One is Grade I, 13 are Grade II* and the remaining 274 are Grade II. Listing protects the whole building, inside and out, so replacing windows, removing a fireplace or opening up a wall needs listed building consent on top of any planning permission. Most of the listings here are Grade II, and Grade II still covers sash windows and front doors.
The same area contains 26 conservation areas, among them Kennington, Kennington Park Road, Albert Square, Eliot's Row, Addington Square and Grosvenor Park. In a conservation area the council controls demolition and the look of the street. Work that would be routine elsewhere, such as a roof extension, cladding or a new front boundary, usually needs Lambeth Council's permission first. The Duchy of Cornwall also owns a large share of property in Kennington. If the freehold of a house belongs to the Duchy, its consent is needed as well as the council's, so check who owns the freehold early on.
People here still apply. Between April 2024 and June 2026 there were 718 planning applications in Kennington, 321 of them in the last twelve months. That is a lot of loft conversions, rear extensions and replacement windows going through the system. It shows owners keep trying. It doesn't show how many of them were approved.
The British Geological Survey puts Kennington's shrink-swell hazard at class 3, and about 100% of the area reaches that class. Shrink-swell means clay that expands when wet and shrinks when dry, so the ground moves with the seasons. For an extension, the foundations may need to go deeper than a builder would assume, and a structural engineer should check the ground before anything is designed. Nearby trees make the problem worse. None of this stops a sensible extension, but it does add to the cost.
Two listed buildings in the area are on Historic England's Heritage at Risk register. They are buildings in poor condition. Repairs to them may get grant support and will get close attention from the conservation officers. Owning a house nearby carries no risk from them. If anything, your neighbour has more paperwork than you do.
In practice, nearly everything here needs permission. Flats have no general right to extend without planning permission. Houses inside a conservation area have fewer automatic rights than houses elsewhere, and listed houses effectively have none. Assume that any change visible from the street needs consent from the council, and from the Duchy as well if it owns the freehold. Anything that touches a listed building needs consent regardless of where on the building it is.
If you want freedom to extend or alter a home, Kennington is one of the hardest places in London to get it.