How do I find out my house Use Class?

NibblyPig

I live in a street of residential buildings that were built as part of a development. They were built to be rented as HMOs and some of them had HMO licenses in the past, including my house prior to me purchasing it. My neighbour has a HMO license.

In order to apply for a HMO license my house must be Use Class C4. How do I find out what Use Class my house is?

There is nothing on the planning portal I can see (it was built in 2005) and I e-mailed the council and they said we can't help with planning permission enquiries (even though it's just asking what my house is classed as).

Would it still be C4 if it used to be a HMO? Does Use Class lapse? Is there a register somewhere?

Many thanks for help

Bookworm105

has your council applied "zoning" whereby certain areas of the borough are listed as being acceptable for HMO and others are not? There should be planning policy documents which define what is "acceptable" across the borough. Doubtless there will be maps in support of that.

Given the history of previous and current use it sounds like your road is in principle OK for HMO, it then becomes a question of will planning permission be refused as there is an upper limit to the number of HMO in that road. 

gwynlas

Given many councils have tightened up on requirements for HMOs it is unlikely that your home would be classed as such and you would ned to apply if you wanted to let it out and conform to current standards. If this is the case then your home as currently configured would qualify as solely residential/

NibblyPig

Ah I see I misunderstood, I thought that C4 meant it was permitted to apply for a HMO and then you had to apply on top of that. 

"Some areas of Bristol are covered by Article 4 Directions. If your property is in one of these areas, you'll need planning permission for works that would normally be covered by permitted development rights.

If you're applying for planning permission for a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO), you must also check if you need to apply for an HMO licence."

The council website says for my ward "You need a planning application for a change of use between a dwelling house (Use Class C3) and a small House in Multiple Occupation (Use Class C4)."

Because it said you must check I assume the two things were separate.

Does that mean I just apply for a HMO license and it will change my property to C4? It's very confusing. How can you NOT need a HMO license if you're applying for planning permission for a HMO? Is that if you just want it to be a HMO but you don't actually want to rent it out yet?

Bookworm105

NibblyPig said:

Does that mean I just apply for a HMO license and it will change my property to C4? It's very confusing. How can you NOT need a HMO license if you're applying for planning permission for a HMO? Is that if you just want it to be a HMO but you don't actually want to rent it out yet?

not all HMO need a licence... and not all HMO need planning permission 

Change of use is inherent to being granted PP.
A licence is just a money raising exercise for the council, there is a limit where a licence is not required unless the council has instigated "selective" licensing in a designated area.

I'm not going to research your council for you but from what you have written it would appear in your case you do need a licence. So you need to focus on the question - will planning permission mean the area is unsuitable for HMO and therefore a licence is irrelevant?

With what you say about history it does not sound like your area is averse to HMO, so it a question of is the area at capacity and further applications will be refused.

have a read:
Do You Need Planning Permission For An HMO? - HMO Architects (hmo-architect.com)

NibblyPig

Sure my question was if I apply to get a license, do I have to file planning permission for a 'change of use', because I thought that a change of use would be tied to the property. Like if I file for a change of use to turn my house into a shop, and it's granted, then it's now a shop. Presumably if I sell it, it stays a shop.

So does that mean my house is C4 or not? If it's C4 then I can presumably just apply for a HMO license and we're golden. But if it's not, then I would need to file planning permission to make it C4, and then optionally apply for a license if I want to use it as a HMO.

It's a bit puzzling what I need to do and the council have not been any help when I e-mailed them, they said they no longer help with PP enquiries, "If you are still not sure if you need planning permission, you can submit an application for a Lawful Development Certificate for Proposed Development.  Once submitted, we will decide whether the works need planning permission and you will receive a formal notice.  Information and application forms can be found on our website. "

What am I applying for though, to make it C4? It might already be C4? Isn't the restriction of houses (if there are too many for example) based on the HMO license rather than if the building is designated C4?

lincroft1710

NibblyPig said:

Sure my question was if I apply to get a license, do I have to file planning permission for a 'change of use', because I thought that a change of use would be tied to the property. Like if I file for a change of use to turn my house into a shop, and it's granted, then it's now a shop. Presumably if I sell it, it stays a shop.

So does that mean my house is C4 or not? If it's C4 then I can presumably just apply for a HMO license and we're golden. But if it's not, then I would need to file planning permission to make it C4, and then optionally apply for a license if I want to use it as a HMO.

It's a bit puzzling what I need to do and the council have not been any help when I e-mailed them, they said they no longer help with PP enquiries, "If you are still not sure if you need planning permission, you can submit an application for a Lawful Development Certificate for Proposed Development.  Once submitted, we will decide whether the works need planning permission and you will receive a formal notice.  Information and application forms can be found on our website. "

What am I applying for though, to make it C4? It might already be C4? Isn't the restriction of houses (if there are too many for example) based on the HMO license rather than if the building is designated C4?

Most councils no longer give free planing advice, you either pay for a meeting with a planning officer or submit the application for PP and hope for the best.

NibblyPig

lincroft1710 said:

Most councils no longer give free planing advice, you either pay for a meeting with a planning officer or submit the application for PP and hope for the best.

I don't understand why it's so complicated, what would I even be applying for? I want to change my house from C3 to C4, but it might already be C4 but there appears to exist literally no way in which I can find this out

lincroft1710

The only thing you can do is try to find the original planning application to build the house

user1977

NibblyPig said:

There is nothing on the planning portal I can see (it was built in 2005) 

No planning consent for a development built in 2005? That seems unlikely. Are you sure you're searching correctly? (bear in mind that searching by the current postal address is unlikely to work for something which predates that address existing - a map-based search is often most useful).

Ratkin007

If you are living in the property on your own or with your family then it is C3. Planning and licensing are 2 separate issues. You could have a HMO licence without planning permission. Some Authorities will give a shorter term licence to enable planning permission to be obtained if it is required. I just googled Bristol HMO and there is a lot of information there. A HMO is 3 or more persons in 2 or more households. If there are 5 or more people a mandatory licence is required. If there are 3 or 4 people you would need to apply for an additional licence as Bristol has a city wide additional scheme (not all authorities have additional schemes or sometimes it is only in specific areas). From the same page you can find information or be linked to find out which areas fall within article 4 for HMO use. If your property is in an article 4 area then you would need to apply for planning permission because you do not have existing use as an HMO. However it is unlikely planning permission would be granted because the article 4 is to prevent properties becoming HMOs.