Brighton and Wigan councillors voted through Article 4 Direction restrictions for smaller HMOs rented by four or more unrelated people who share common facilities
Two local councils have announced new restrictions on HMOs as local authorities and people who live there worry about the ‘deteriorating’ effect they can have on areas when concentrated too tightly.
Brighton said that its previously limited HMO restrictions will become city-wide and Wigan has claimed that two of its wards are to be covered by restrictions on both small and large ones.
These Article 4 Direction announcements came after similar restrictions at the beginning of January in Birmingham, as well as proposals put forward in Leeds, Liverpool, Lewisham in London and Northampton during the past three months.
HMO Planning is the formal permission from a local authority or council, for the erection or alteration of buildings or similar development, for the use class HMO, C4 (Small HMO) or Sui Generis HMO (Large HMO)… read more
Brighton had previously made restrictions only to the number of small shared houses in student areas, but after public outcries, this has now gone city-wide.
Now, to ‘prevent the deterioration of areas’ Brighton landlords will need to have planning permission to turn a property into either a small or large HMO. This will only be applied if less than 10% of homes within a 50-meter radius are not already HMOs.
In Wigan, the local council has voted to extend the restrictions to small HMOs in Swinley and central Leigh.
“We appreciate that HMOs provide a form of low-cost, flexible housing, particularly for younger people and those on lower incomes, but there are concerns associated when the number of HMOs is increasing in a concentrated area,” local councillor Paul Prescott told local media.
“Such concerns include the impact on parking provision, excess noise, impact on the physical environment and changes to the character of a residential area.”