The planners can be quite hostile to HMOs these days, and applications to change houses into HMOs should be handled with care, especially if they involved extensions to enlarge the house at the same time.
In this case, the house was a standard, end-of-terrace house on a residential road in Colliers Wood. The applicant wanted a rear dormer roof extension and a single-storey rear extension.
Our first tactic was to obtain certificates of lawfulness for the two extensions using permitted development rights. We submitted separate applications for the ground floor extensions (prior approval under the larger home extension scheme) and for the loft.
We then submitted a full planning application for the same extensions and for the conversion into a HMO.
Planning permission was needed for the change of use because the site falls within an area covered by an Article 4 direction made in November 2022 removing permitted development for the change of use of family dwellinghouses (use class C3) into smaller HMOs (use class C4).
The Article 4 direction does not imply that HMOs are not acceptable but simply requires that planning permission be obtained.
We showed that there is support in local and national policies, as well as in the London Plan, for shared living accommodation, including HMOs. We demonstrated that the proposal met an identified need for this kind of accommodation in the borough (by referencing the local Strategic Housing Market Assessment) and we showed that the new HMO would fit in with the character of the area, would not harm neighbours’ living conditions and would provide a good quality of living accommodation for future residents.
We also showed that there would be no problems in terms of highways and parking, that waste and recycling would be well managed, that there was room to safely store bicycles and that the development would be air quality neutral. We even submitted a flood risk assessment.
We were delighted when planning permission was granted. If you need planning permission for your HMO, contact us for some advice.
For more on HMOs and planning check out the free advice on Martin Gaine’s website here, including his video course on HMOs, available here.
Also, check out his book on Planning and HMOs, available here.
