We are delighted to have secured consent at appeal for a client in Bedford for the retention of their 5 person HMO. A license application triggered planning enforcement to contact the client, noting that there was no planning history. The property had been a lawful HMO long before the local Article 4 direction was introduced in 2020 which is why there was no planning history, but because there were small time periods where it had briefly reverted to being a C3 dwelling, a certificate of lawful development was not an option.
An application was made and even though the LPA had instigated enforcement investigations, they treated and described the application as being for a new HMO as opposed to the regularisation of an existing one. Permission was refused on the basis of:
- Noise and disturbance to neighbours associated with increased comings and goings;
- Living conditions for future residents, based on a standard that does not exist; and
- Unsuitable waste arrangements, which have been in place for years without complaint, and which are the same as almost every other house in the street.
CCTP were instructed to defend the appeal and successfully demonstrated that the proposals were acceptable in all three regards. The Inspector treated the case as it should have been – as an existing HMO – and their conclusion on the ‘comings and goings’ argument at Paragraph 7 was especially pleasing to see:
“There can be no cast iron guarantee that problems of noise and disturbance will not arise from the proposed use, as this will depend on the particular group of occupiers. Such an argument would also apply to a family dwelling. Nevertheless, the probability is that occupation of the property as a five bedroom HMO would not be materially different to that of a 3 bedroom 6 person family dwelling, in terms of its impacts on neighbours.”
A very sensible decision by the Inspector, and a huge relief to the client. They had been operating lawfully for years before the Article 4 came in and are now free to continue.
(Appeal ref 3337712)
