Help with HMO in Southwark (London) - Fire Safety

Hi there,

Wondering if anyone can offer some advice on the below (appreciate I can't take any responses as official legal advice).

I live in a four-bed HMO (house of multiple occupancy) in the London Borough of Southwark. Our landlord has just given us the news that various pieces of building work will need to be done on the house in order for it to pass a fire safety inspection at the beginning of March (fire doors, alarm system etc.).

One piece of building work he has specified is a partition wall, turning our ground floor living room (we live in a typical Victorian terrace) into two rooms.

His messaging about the partition wall has been confusing: at first he made it sound like it was to do with the fire regulations. He has since emailed saying that the extra room would be a fifth bedroom, but if we are happy paying a rent increase between the four of us commensurate with renting the place as a five-bed (an eye-watering 27% increase) then he will not put in the partition wall.

I therefore want to find out whether a partition wall such as this is indeed due to fire safety regulations, or if our landlord is just trying to sneak the work in under the guise of fire safety when his real intention is to turn the place into a five bed.

If the partition wall is not a fire safety requirement for us living there as a four person HMO, then we will naturally push back against this work for the remainder of our tenancy.

Any help or advice on the above would be greatly appreciated.