HMO Planning Rules - Update

After several weeks of speculation and broken promises from both the Conservatives and the new Coalition government the Housing Minister has detailed his proposals for the recent HMO Class Planning Consents mentioned in a previous article.
In a partial climbdown, Grant Shapps has decreed that there will be no requirement for planning consent on SMALL HMO properties (Three or more people in a property) where they were originally a single household unit. However, he qualified this by intimating that he would allow local councils to undertake reviews of studentification or ‘uncontrolled HMO development’. Essentially leaving up to the councils to apply for Selective and Additional licensing to control any issues.
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