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New Rulings Regarding Planning Permission For Houses In Multiple OccupationWednesday 21st April, 2010The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) order 1987 as amended to provide for a specific definition of an HMO. Planning permission will now be required where a change of material use has occurred. Properties changing use from C3 (dwelling house) to the new C4 category, HMO use, will now constitute a material change. What this means for landlords is that planning permission is now required before a property can be let to three or more unrelated people sharing. We are told that the legislation will not apply retrospectively, but landlords seeking to let to three or more unrelated tenants sharing after 6 April 2010 should speak to the planning departments of their local authorities for clarification. The onus of proof of previous use however will be on the landlord and he/she could be called upon to produce evidence of the previous multiple occupancy nature of the property by providing tenancy agreements or deposit protection certificates etc. Landlords will not be required to get planning permission to change the use back to a single residential dwelling, but no doubt this new ruling could cause problems for landlords who sometimes let to sharers and other times let to families. The idea of these new laws is to prevent whole areas becoming intensely over populated by share houses particularly by students whom often move into shared accommodation over university halls to not only make savings on the rental prices but also to make their first move into independent living. This move has been roundly criticised by the landlords associations. The National Landlords Association states that the move is misguided and will not achieve the governments goals. The planning application will cost landlords £335.00 and there is no guarantee that the planning permission will be granted. Some of the current requirements that landlords must comply with for safety in HMO’s are laid out below, although it is not yet clear if these will become part of the conditions of granting planning permission it is likely that it will do at some point and by default renting an HMO these conditions will be required so if you are considering letting a property as an HMO the recommended changes you will need to have in place are: Ø Fire doors with self closers with minimum half hours fire resistance to bedrooms and at least 1 hour resistance to kitchens Ø 30mm door stop on the frames instead of the standard 10mm Ø Intumescent strips around the fire doors Ø Main interlinked automatic fire detection system (L2 or LD2) be fitted throughout the property with audible sounders situated so that each bedroom has the audibility of 75db at the bedhead. In some properties (such as listed buildings) they may recommend a sprinkler system to be installed in conjunction with an alarm system. Ø NICEIC certificate for electrical installations Ø Upgrading ceilings in living arrears to double thickness (12.5mm) plasterboard and Gypsum skim finish (No Artex). Ø Upgrading for flooring to habitable rooms with the addition of 6mm Plywood or High Density Hardboard Ø Hardwired Emergency lighting to areas of means of escape – stairwells, halls and lobbies Ø Fire fighting equipment which would include 1 x 9 litre water fire extinguisher on each storey and a 1kg powder extinguisher and 1 x 1 metre blanket in each kitchen.
HMO Occupation DefinitionThat is the critical word “Occupation” not the number of TENANTS you have on an agreement. As the law is currently, there is no legal obligation to have an agreement in writing. Of course, it is legally safer to have a written tenancy agreement for all concerned and I would not advise any landlord to create a tenancy without a written tenancy agreement. The crux here is that you could let a house to a couple, who sublet one room to a third unrelated person. Immediately this puts this property into an HMO classification 1 Property x 1 couple + 1 single = 3 occupiers = Two households = HMO How many properties are no affected by this scenario? 1 Property x 3 single unrelated persons sharing = 3 households = HMO But: 1 Property x 2 single unrelated persons sharing = 2 Households = NON HMO
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