Local councils could clamp down on HMOs going back to single homes

Housing minister Grant Shapps has said that owners who want to convert a small HMO back into a private home should not need planning consent – but that local authorities might demand it.

He was answering a parliamentary question amid escalating concerns over the increasing numbers of local authorities choosing to demand that planning applications for change of use must be made every time a single-household home is converted into a small shared rental property.

Local councils do not have to seek planning permission, but many are choosing to exploit a loophole given to them by the Coalition Government, which allows them to make Article 4 Directions requiring planning applications.

Shapps has now made it clear that the same Article 4 device could be used to control smaller HMOs going back into single-household use.

David Morris, Tory MP for Morecamble and Lunesdale, had asked Shapps what assistance his department was making available to local councils seeking to return HMOs to single units.

Shapps replied: “The overwhelming majority of HMOs are privately owned – particularly those which might be suitable for conversion to family housing. It is for the owner of a privately rented HMO to decide whether to convert their property back into a single unit suitable for a family. If the property is well maintained, well managed, and has any necessary planning consents, then the local authority has no powers to seek a change of use.

“Generally, a change of use from a small HMO to a family house does not require an application for planning permission unless there are local concerns about such development and the local authority have made an Article 4 Direction requiring planning applications for such development.

“Should a landlord wish to convert a larger HMO to a family house, then this will require a planning application if the local authority considers this would be a material change of use.”

Shapps’ answer will come as no surprise to landlord groups which have consistently warned of a scenario whereby houses which one year will be let to a family and the next to a group of, for example, three nurses sharing, will constantly be the subject of planning applications for change of use.