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London borough seeks to halt spread of HMOs

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Hammersmith & Fulham has become the latest council to introduce an Article 4 Direction in a bid to clamp down on HMO conversions – partly in response to neighbouring boroughs’ similar moves.

The borough-wide, non-immediate direction - meaning that planning permission is required to convert a family home (C3) into a small HMO - will take effect in a year after it conducts a consultation and evidence study.

Hammersmith & Fulham renewed its borough-wide additional licensing scheme in 2022 and currently has about 4,600 licenced HMOs - 600 large (seven tenants or more) and about 4,000 small. There are also 24 designated streets in its selective scheme.

Its report explains that despite this, it doesn’t consider that licensing alone is capable of properly managing the proliferation of small HMOs. Enforcement is also an issue; in the past three years the council has issued 15 notices of breach of licence, and no licences have been revoked, while only two rogue landlords have been prosecuted.

Introduced

Many other boroughs in London already have introduced an Article 4 Direction for small HMOs across their entire areas including Hounslow, Barnet, and Newham, while Ealing recently extended its Article 4 Direction to the entire borough.

The report says: “There is concern that the Article 4 Directions in the neighbouring boroughs of Brent and Ealing will displace demand to Hammersmith & Fulham.”

The council believes that while the majority of small HMOs are managed well and "give no rise to anti-social behaviour", as the numbers grow, they are changing the profile of more traditional residential neighbourhoods and impacting local amenity and community cohesion.

It adds: “Even if applications are granted, it is considered that the planning permission route would secure better HMOs – through the application of policies for minimum house size and bedroom size; waste collection facilities; cycle storage; and through conditions that can be imposed, including the requirement to obtain a licence.”

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Article 4 directions

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