Help - Large HMO - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

If you are referring to a single dwelling housing 10 individuals (not a family) then this will constitute a large house in multiple occupation (those with more than 6 people sharing). These are unclassified by the Use Classes Order, and are therefore sui generis. You would therefore need planning permission to change from C3 to sui generis if more than 6 tenants are in occupation. Planning permission isn't required to change from C3 to C4 use, C4 being 3-6 occupants. Hope that is of some help.

Thanks Kate. I only need apply for Sui Generis if a MCU has taken place. The test for MCU is whether the use has intensified so as to become a different character. The property was a pub with living accommodation above previously and I have consent for 3 2 double bed flats. I don't see how the character has changed for the worse? Secondly character is described in terms of aesthetics on the Planning Portal and in the Local Plan. The building is unchanged aesthetically. I repeat; 1) Having advised C4 and then changed their minds once the work was done and the tenants were in do the LPA have a leg to stand on? If they insist on Sui Generis do they have to demonstrate a change of character? 2) Was the advice to apply for a change of use from C3 to Sui Generis correct when as soon as the third tenant had moved in a change of use to C4 had occurred? 3) I'm in limbo - I don't believe I need consent, the LPA have yet to demonstrate why I need consent and are threatening enforcement - how do I get out of this situation?

Johann, If you believe that planning permission is not required and that no offence has occured you are able to appeal a Planning Enforcement Notice on that basis, and it will then be in the hands of a planning inspector.

On the face of it... Whether or not a change of use is material is a matter of fact and degree, but I don't think you'll get anyone to advise you here that one has not occurred if you changed directly from pub+flat to 10-bedroom HMO. The aesthetics argument is a red herring. I'm afraid the planning permission for 3 flats is irrelevant except as part of an argument that planning permission should be granted for the HMO. The use class isn't really relevant either; you needed planning permission to make the change to an HMO and 10 beds clearly falls outside C4, as Kate advises. You have since (correctly) applied for that change and your application has been refused. I suppose the next step is to negotiate with the LPA to find a solution acceptable to them, or appeal the refusal of planning permission, or await an enforcement notice and appeal against that as per Leigh's advice. If you want the LPA to tell you why they think you need consent, ask them in writing. Check the officer's report on your planning application first - it may deal with that issue.

Thanks Leigh, thanks Nick. Nick, 1) I didn't change directly from a pub+flat to 10 bed HMO. Surely once the third tenant moved in a change of use from C3 to C4 occurred. Once the 7th tenant moved in the property would then be described as a large HMO. Circular 08/2010 states that an excess of 6 defines the scope of C4 but does not imply an excess of that number constitutes a breach of planning control. Doesn't this mean I don't necessarily need planning permission? 08/2010 further states that an MCU will occur only where the total number of residents has increased to the point where it can be said that the use has intensified so as to become of a different character. I argue that character as defined on the planning portal and in the local plan has not changed. Is my logic correct? 2)The LPA advised C4 - permitted development - when the works got underway and when the works were completed. Can't I make them stand by their original advice? 3)if you agree with the logic in 1) above then the LPA's advice, on threat of enforcement, to apply for a change of use from C3 to Sui Generis was wrong. As you imply a change of use from C3 to 10 bed HMO is a big leap. A change of use from C4 to 10 bed HMO is a much smaller one. How do I go about resolving this issue? Can I get my original fee back if the advice was shown to be in error?

1) I see your logic. To make it stack up I think you would need to show that when there were 6 rooms or less you stopped renovations and had no intention of creating further rooms, then some time later you decided to intensify the use further. If you always intended it to be more than six rooms then the rate at which you completed the renovations or let the rooms shouldn't matter because it was a direct change from pub+flat to 10-bed HMO; it just took a while to complete the process. 2) This demonstrates the value of lawful development certificates. As you have since been advised, the use is not C4 if there are more than 6 people living there, it is a large scale HMO (sui generis). That is a matter of fact, not opinion. The only matters of opinion are: a) whether the lawful use of the building fell within C4 at some point; and b) if it did, whether the change from C4 to large-scale HMO was a material change of use and therefore required planning permission. If you feel that you have been badly advised then the Council's complaints procedure may be your best option, but that should not change the outcome of any planning decisions. 3) You can't get your fee back because, although you may have felt you had no option, you chose to submit the application rather than wait for an enforcement notice. If the LPA is wrong then you will win an appeal and if the LPA has acted unreasonably then you may also get your costs back. But assuming the LPA was in full possession of the facts it sounds like the initial LPA advice that the use was C4 was wrong and it has since got its act together. However, the LPA has consistently said that you needed planning permission, so it will argue that it has not misled you in that respect. If you disagreed with the LPA's view at that time then the safe route would have been to apply for a lawful development certificate rather than go ahead with the development. You could still apply for an LDC and, assuming the LPA refuses it, appeal. But that depends on the willingness of the LPA to delay taking enforcement action while you go through that process. However, on the basis of the information you have provided it does seem to me that planning permission was required, so I would advise that your options are as I set out in my earlier post. If appealing against an enforcement notice you will have the opportunity to argue that planning permission is not required and also that if planning permission is required it should be granted.

Nick, 1) I sought the LPA's opinion when deciding whether or not to build three flats or an HMO. The opinion was that I needed to apply for C4. How could I have applied for C4 permitted development? When I sent the enforcement officer a copy of Town and Country Planning Act 2010 No. 2134 demonstrating that C4 was permitted development I heard nothing back from him. The Enforcement Policy states that I would only hear back if there is any formal action. I didn't hear back within the corporate written response standards and in good faith built out the HMO assuming the LPA had decided it was not a MCU. Eight months later the LPA contacted me again with the same advice - apply for C4. In the meantime and in good faith the works had been completed and the tenants were in. I believe I have been treated badly/unfairly and believe the LPA should stand by their original advice whether explicit (C4) or else implicit in their lack of communication after I sent them 2010 No 2134. In the absence of a Customer Charter for Planning Services I have no idea what standards I should have expected and whether or not the LPA can be obliged to stand by their original advice since the works have been complated?