Housing minister Grant Shapps has defended the use of Article Four directions, which allow local authorities to demand planning applications when a single-household property is turned into one for a small group of sharers.
But, answering questions from former shadow housing secretary, Labour’s Alison Seabeck, he dodged the issue of what effect the Article Four directions are having on rental supply for tenants on ‘single room rate’.
Currently, housing benefit tenants under the age of 25 who rent from private landlords will only receive enough Local Housing Allowance to pay for a single room in a shared house. This age limit is due to rise to 35. It means that tenants who have been living in their own flats will have to move into shared accommodation in HMOs.
Seabeck asked in the Commons what discussions Shapps had had with landlord organisations on Article Four directions, and whether his department had carried out an impact assessment on the effects on ‘single room rate’ tenants.
Shapps replied, without once mentioning single room rates or landlord organisations: “The blanket requirement for planning permission for houses of multiple occupation included at the tail end of the last administration imposed a significant regulatory cost on the private rented sector.
“The Government have streamlined these planning requirements, allowing councils to control the number of new houses of multiple occupation via Article 4 directions allowing for targeted action in communities where the cumulative impact of such dwellings harms local amenity; this approach will avoid the blanket, over-regulation of the whole private rented sector.
“The impact assessment produced in September 2010 (CLG, Houses in Multiple Occupation –changes to planning legislation) estimates that this Government’s reforms will deliver a net benefit worth £104m.
“By contrast, the impact assessment produced under the last Administration on their planning changes, warned of a ‘potential reduction in supply of this type of low-cost accommodation and therefore potential for rents to increase if there is a reduction in supply’ (CLG, Introducing a definition of houses in multiple occupation into the Use Classes Order: Impact Assessment, March 2010, p.8).
“In this context, compared to the status quo, this Government’s changes will increase the availability of low-cost accommodation for rent.”
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