by Ray George
The City Council’s Article 4 Direction requiring planning consent if a house is going to be occupied by three or more unrelated people, comes into force on 23rd March 2012.
To go with the Article 4 Direction, there will be a Supplementary Planning Document which will guide how planning officers decide a planning application. The draft of this document is now out for consultation which ends on 1st February. Whether a planning application will be granted for an HMO depends on the density of HMOs already in the area. The proposed threshold for refusal is 10% in the wards of Swaythling, Bassett and Portswood and 20% elsewhere. The other factor is the “area of impact” within which this density will be measured. The proposal is that this should be within a radius of 40m from the house for which the HMO application is being made, or an area covering 10 houses whichever is the greater.
Please consider submitting your comments, because the people who hoover up houses to turn them into HMOs are likely to make vigorous attempts to get the threshold increased.
If you are thinking of taking two† lodgers, but not more, don’t panic, your house will not become a house in multiple occupation.
† SI 2006 No. 373 Regulation 6 (2).