Multiple occupancy houses

fedupconsumer

Hoping you could help me, our next door neighbour is selling his house and putting it up for sale as multiple occupancy. However we have over half the houses on the street as multiple occupancy houses and have brought nothing but problems to the area. Can you put an injunction or order on the house that it must be sold as part of a single occupancy remit?

00ec25

No you cannot stop someone else selling their own house, however:

- if the property is not currently an HMO, then new planning laws applicable since April 2010 mean that its future use as an HMO will need formal planning permission from the council....so make sure you object (if PP is granted then there is nothing you can do about it, as it suggests the council has "zoned" your neighbourhood as suitable for HMO use, which is why the new rules were brought in so as to control the ghettoisation of areas through over development of HMO)

- if it was already in use as an HMO before April 2010, then new PP is not required, but why not check with the council what their attitude is anyway and whether they are already aware of its existence and compliance with the HMO regulations...

phlash

It could have been an HMO prior to April 2010, and the council may not be aware.

Any HMO regulations are enforced on the LL and the council need not know. The council will only know about registered licensed HMO's. But not all HMO's are licensable, mandatory licenses exist for 3 storey, 3 or more unrelated partied HMO's. You can have 3 or more unrelated parties in a 2 storey house, making it an HMO, but not licensable. In short, this scenario would have been an HMO for the Housing Act 2004 purposes, and would have gained C4 category (The new pp that new HMO's have to apply for) the moment the 6 April 2010 hit, yet the council may not of known it was a HMO. The onus is on the owner to prove its HMO status.

lynzpower

phlash wrote: »

It could have been an HMO prior to April 2010, and the council may not be aware.

Any HMO regulations are enforced on the LL and the council need not know. The council will only know about registered licensed HMO's. But not all HMO's are licensable, mandatory licenses exist for 3 storey, 3 or more unrelated partied HMO's. You can have 3 or more unrelated parties in a 2 storey house, making it an HMO, but not licensable. In short, this scenario would have been an HMO for the Housing Act 2004 purposes, and would have gained C4 category the moment the 6 April 2010 hit, yet the council may not of known it was a HMO. The onus is on the owner to prove its HMO status.

OR if they are in a specific area of additional licensing.

Which it may be: but only you will know your area:
example
http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?articleid=18991

poppysarah

Speak to the local councillors and police. Go to meetings and be loud about the problems. Get neighbours to support you.

They should limit HMO in areas. It can really degrade areas quickly and take away any sense of identity or community.

phlash

lynzpower wrote: »

OR if they are in a specific area of additional licensing.

Which it may be: but only you will know your area:
example
http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?articleid=18991

Thanks for clarifying.

I missed that out on purpose, hence the "can be".

Was just trying to show a situation where the council may not be aware, despite having Council Tax details or voting register details!

fedupconsumer

poppysarah wrote: »

Speak to the local councillors and police. Go to meetings and be loud about the problems. Get neighbours to support you.

They should limit HMO in areas. It can really degrade areas quickly and take away any sense of identity or community.

Thanks all but they rejected our last complaint about a HMO house in the same street, they dont listen. I have no confidence in my local council in this area is there a step above them i could go to. I live in a 30 house street near half are under HMO, that is too much to add to.

lynzpower

Well as someone has said, over the last fewweeks things have changed quite dramatically.

When before this was a private housing team issue or Environmental health issue then it is no longer solely as planning and building control need to be involved.

I think there is a possibility you could campaign the elected member for housing in your area? When you say about HMOs in your street what do you mean?

Do you live in a notorious HMO area ( eg studentland)
Did you buy in knowing this was the type of area ( youl wouldnt be the 1st)

Whatr is the basis of your complaint, is it regarding noise? Waste? safety?

The more info you give us the more help youll get !

fedupconsumer

lynzpower wrote: »

Well as someone has said, over the last fewweeks things have changed quite dramatically.

When before this was a private housing team issue or Environmental health issue then it is no longer solely as planning and building control need to be involved.

I think there is a possibility you could campaign the elected member for housing in your area? When you say about HMOs in your street what do you mean?

Do you live in a notorious HMO area ( eg studentland)
Did you buy in knowing this was the type of area ( youl wouldnt be the 1st)

Whatr is the basis of your complaint, is it regarding noise? Waste? safety?

The more info you give us the more help youll get !

There are about 15 houses or so in the street already in multiple occupancy, over the years we have had a increase in noise pollution, parking problems, students urinating in the street, waste problems, students not locking their property i.e keeping the door open thus drawing thieves to the area.

There is a real need now to stamp out MHO's applications in this area it is loosing its character , decreasing property values and turning it into a "student ghetto."

lynzpower

Arguably, houses arnt losing value but gaining ( ie the neighbours who will sell to HMO managers are likely to be worth more) In any case "losing value" is not something that planning or EH would be interested in, so Id park that angle for the time being!

In terms of losing character, again this is an opinion thing, and unless your area is characterised with lots of listed buildings, monuments or is say a conservation area.
If it is then again a call to your local authority's conservation officer is a good way, or to use other conservation forums ( some areas have specific residents associations to deal with characterful areas of historic importance etc)

In terms of legitimate concerns regarding waste: you can make a compaint about this, all HMOs need to have adequate provision for waste removal. ( ie enough bins, place to store them) so refuse idsnt just chucked on the road. However if it is within the front bounaries ( ie front wall) awaiting general collection, this might be seen as adequate.
In terms of urinating in the street, you could ask your copmmunity support politcing to think about cctv? or extra patrolling?

If you have noise pollution, you can ask the EHO to monitor your noise, that is tangible for you.

If HMOs are run without licensing and they are over 3 storeys, they need to be licensed. If they are in a specific licensing area, they need to be licensed. If they occur after 4th April
then if they are a new HMO then they need permissions.

Regarding parking could you ask your local authority if you could have a permit scheme - sadly this involves costs for people though.

I think the most important thing for you here tis to be careful when "picking your battles" and make sure that when you hit you "hit target" otherwise youll seem like that cantankerous neighbour that moans indiscriminately and you dont want that im sure!

Is there a residents association/ neighbourhood watch type group on the go in your area?

clutton_2

you need also to refer to the local plan and see what future plans the local councl made in the past for HMO housing in the last revision of tghe local plan..... .. some areas, like say a holiday resort, need a lot more single housing units for waiters/waitresses/ as do university towns.... etc whereas other mainly residential areas do not have the same requirement for single units.....

it rather sounds as if your council have been trying to keep all their HMOs in one street, which makes sense from their point of view, but not necessarily yours.....

if this is classified as a HMO area - you are fighting a losing batle... IMHO