Article 4 Planning for HMO in Brighton – help required for failed planning consent

Article 4 Planning for HMO in Brighton – help required for failed planning consent

10:49 AM, 30th December 2013, About 10 years ago 12

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Hi All any advice

I am a landlord I would like to hope a good one renting higher end HMO properties in Brighton. Following on from additional HMO licensing introduced last year on November 5th 2012, Brighton and Hove city council brought in an article 4 planning article in 4 wards restricting further HMO usage commencing from 5th April 2013.

Any property in occupation prior to this date would automatically gain the planning consent as it was in use as an HMO prior to this date. Any property with three or more unrelated tenants is being classed as an HMO for this purpose.

My question is this I have now been refused my planning consent after a complaint from a neighbour (not that my tenants did anything wrong just that the neighbour did not want an HMO next door) even though the neighbour move in after I purchased said property.

The neighbours argument and the councils argument is that although I moved the tenants in with them all paying rent and a reputable letting agent doing the contracts and registering the deposits on 7th March 2013 before the article 4 start date one of the tenants although moving some of his possessions in on the day unknown to me did not actually stay the night before 5 April, therefore they are arguing that there were not three people in occupation (I can not think this is right as you can not force someone to sleep at the property or put someone else in as a replacement one the contracts are signed).

I always presumed you were taken to have occupied the property on signing of the tenancy agreement by both sides and now I have had my permitted development right refused with no chance of an HMO leaving me significantly out of pocket.

Any advice for m anyone would be greatly appreciated

Happy new year all

TimBrighton


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Comments

Tim

18:03 PM, 17th January 2014, About 10 years ago

Hi all

Thanks for the advice and support on here. I have now contacted The Southern Landlord Association who were both helpful and very knowledgeable giving me some further good professional advice. It is good having someone else on your side when confronted with a bolshy ill informed and incorrect council. Watch this space you never know the council may learn to interpret the law correctly.

Tim

Tim

18:20 PM, 17th January 2014, About 10 years ago

Hi All

Thank you all for the messages of advice and support it is great to have advice from other people and has given me the motivation to fight this further.

I have now spoken with the Southern Landlord Association whom were both helpful and very knowledgable. I can not emphasise enough how important it has been to have help and advice from others in such an instance both on line here and the SLA

I will keep you informed of any progress

Have a good evening

Tim

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