County Durham has moved a step closer to introducing an Article 4 direction in a bid to clamp down on the spread of HMOs.
Councillors voted to support plans making it harder for landlords to convert properties into shared housing and a public consultation will now be held before a final decision is made later this year.
The council has already introduced an Article 4 Direction for HMOs in Durham City; Framwellgate Moor, Newton Hall and Pity Me; and Mount Oswald, Carrville and Belmont due to the concentration of student properties.
However, the campaigning East Durham Communities Standing Together group believes an expansion of the rules is needed, as some of the county’s most deprived areas are being targeted by private landlords.
“This is going to be huge for the community, because people will now be able to know if the house next door is HMO, because they’ll be notified,” group secretary Matthew Tough told the BBC. “They’ll get a chance to object. If there’s any parking concerns in the street, they’ll be noted and recorded.”
Councillor Lyndsey Fox (main image) cabinet member for economy and partnerships, says there has been a steady increase in HMOs outside of Durham City over the past few years, with the number rising more significantly since 2021. “Residents have expressed concerns that the increase in HMOs is negatively impacting residential amenity and local character,” Fox says.
County Durham’s selective licensing scheme, where all HMOs in allocated areas require a licence whatever their size, has proved successful, according to the council. It will also look at introducing an Article 4 Direction to give it greater control over any development that would impact on the history and heritage of an area, as well as considering whether to adopt a High Street Rental Auction Scheme to revitalise the county’s high streets.
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