The best way to object to a HMO!
- Mar 15
- 3 min read
So you've received the Council's notification that the family home next door to you, previously occupied by your lovely long-standing neighbour Mrs Smith and her two friendly cats Tom and Garfield, is to be turned into a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)! You reach for pen and paper to write your response to the proposal stating how you'd much rather the house be left as it is for the next family to occupy and that having a HMO right next door to you would reduce the value of your home.
Ok, these are all valid understandable points, but unfortunately the Council is limited in what it can actually take into account when assessing a planning application so you could risk your one chance of objecting to the HMO by submitting comments that will not shape the outcome of the the Council's decision. But don't panic I'm here to help you!
Let's start with the obvious question first; what exactly is a HMO? This refers to a house occupied by a number of un-related individuals usually with an element of shared space such as a kitchen, lounge and bathroom. However, it is becoming more common for HMOs to provide en-suites and kitchenettes to each bedroom limiting shared space to a larger kitchen and/or lounge area.
So does every HMO need planning permission? Well no, not exactly, and this is where it gets a little confusing so let me try and explain in summary for you. The government allows all existing houses to be converted into a small HMO for no more than 6 un-related individuals without the need for planning permission under its own Use Class 'C4'. I won't go into Use Classes in any detail in this blog because trust me that requires an article all on its own! But you can find out more on Use Classes on the national Planning Portal website here.
However, increasingly Council's are choosing to remove those automatic rights through something called an 'Article 4 Direction'. Again, I won't go into detail on that complex process here but just think of it for now as a formal decision that forces HMO investors to apply for planning permission. While this doesn't mean all HMO applications will automatically be refused it does mean they aren't allowed to go ahead without having permission in place having been assessed through the Planning System. And this is where you come in!
As I mentioned at the start of this blog Council's are only allowed to take into account certain planning matters when reaching a decision on a planning application; this is commonly referred to as 'material planning grounds' or 'material planning matters'.
There are various sources online about what is considered to be 'material' or not and for the purposes of this blog I'll refer here to some matters that are frequently used when objecting to a HMO and have to be taken into account by the Council:
intensification and harm to character of the area
neighbours amenity
fear of crime and anti-social behaviour
parking and highways safety
waste (refuse) collection and management
Having spent more than two decades working at the heart of a Local Planning Authority I have seen just how important well written objections are in shaping the outcome of a planning application. For that reason I've produced a 5 page long HMO objection letter that provides you with robust planning focussed reasons why the Council should look to refuse a HMO. Buy yours now and send directly to the Council for only £19!
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