HMO Planning Guidelines to Change
The Government is planning to bring into force new legislation which requires landlords to seek planning consent for rented houses that accommodate more than 3 people, who are unrelated. There will be firm guidance in place and a new Use Class for HMO. Previously there was more flexibility for interpretation by local authorities to decide themselves how they would treat this type of property.
Moving forward Local Authorities will have the legislation to support them in ‘tackling problem areas’ but reducing the concentration of HMOs.
94 per cent of respondents to the Governments recent consultation paper said that they experienced problems as a result of high concentrations of HMOs including litter, noise etc. Approximately 98 per cent called for a change in the legislation to help local authorities to curb the flow of HMOs and tackle this problem.
Importantly at this stage it seems like the Government will accept all current HMOs as having an ‘established use’. Once the new legislation is in force (scheduled for April 2010) landlords wishing to convert a private residence (Use Class C3 dwelling house) into a property to be occupied by 3 or more unrelated people, will have to seek change of use to a HMO.
Now is the time to start to consider more carefully the properties that you are looking to buy with a view to converting them to HMOs. Will the planning authority be responsive to a planning application seeking consent to change the use to a HMO.
For more information on the type of things to consider email planningexpert@landlordsblog.co.uk.
You say “all current HMO’s will be accepted as having established use”, but what about those properties that are rented out to three or four students as individual rooms and don’t currently have any HMO status as they are under the HMO requirements threshold? Will local authorities identify these rented out properties and require the landlords to put in a planning application, which will more than likely be refused on car parking!
I think this will be the million dollar question. At this stage the Government are saying that existing HMOs are exempt, but remember the actual legislation has not yet been published.
Lets face it to take enforcement action on any property rented to more than 3 people would take an awful lot of resources.
The problem lies in the fact that currently there is no set framework against which the lawfulness of the use of an HMO can be assessed.
Each local authority makes their own decision about what is an HMO (in planning terms). Some decide any more than 2 unrelated people in a house makes a dwelling house a HMO for which planning consent is required and are prepared to take enforcement action on any breaches.
Each planning case is considered on its own merits against all material considerations. Therefore, the case for a HMO, with 3 or more people sharing would be considered against all relevant national, regional and local planning policies.
In an area where local authority which has adopted planning policies to prohibit such conversion without prior consent planning consent may still be required. The Governments rule of thumb at the moment is that they will not be making the new legislation retrospective. Each local authority still has their own powers, including the new licensing powers.