Landlords in Harrow will now need planning permission to turn family homes into an HMO.

Councillors in the London borough have approved an Article 4 direction which will give them greater control to address concerns raised by residents, including noise, rubbish, anti-social behaviour and pressure on finding family-sized housing.

The council is now running a consultation into whether the direction should be made permanent, which closes on 27th July, but the direction is already in effect, and covers any new small HMO created on or after 12th June. It must decide whether to confirm this by 11th December.

Councillor Marilyn Ashton, portfolio holder for planning and regeneration (pictured), says the move will protect family homes and preserve the borough’s character. “It will help ensure shared housing is provided in the right places and to the right standards,” she explains. “Residents have often told us about some of their issues and concerns they have and we’ve listened. This is a significant step that puts residents first and gives us stronger powers to manage the impact of smaller HMOs.”

Significant

The council says there has been a significant increase in the number of HMO developments finished between 2016/17 and 2024/25 - 65 - but that this represents a fraction of the total number of HMOs that have been delivered or exist within the borough.

Its data demonstrates a correlation between the locations with anti-social behaviour and police call outs, fly tipping, and major crimes offences and the locations with a high concentration of authorised and unauthorised HMOs.

Report

A report explains why it decided to cover the whole borough. “With the level of estimated HMO activity…it is considered that there is a high risk of displacement of HMO activity (including from areas within neighbouring London Boroughs) which could occur to wards or areas not covered by an Article 4 direction, if a smaller area-based direction were to be introduced.”

Harrow is on a mission to clean up its private rented sector and will launch six selective licensing schemes over the summer. However, London Property Licensing has warned that landlords may not be aware of the changes as it wasn’t informed about a consultation launched last year and says there was no press release or news article on the council website.

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