Planning refused HMO permission – he did it anyway!

Hello, I’d be really grateful for suggestions on what I could try next – Neighbouring property applied to planning for a change of use from residential to HMO (we’re an Article 4 area) and the council quite rightly, refused two times. Subsequently, the same owner went ahead and did it anyway and even registered for an HMO licence.

Now the man at the neighbouring property has built a one-bedroom flat at the bottom of his garden and rented that out too (needless to say without planning permission). I informed Planning Enforcement of this breach in Feb 2023 (had to due to excessive nuisance issues) but since then I can’t get them to update me even though their website says it’s something they commit to do.

I had one email at the beginning to confirm they’d received my notification. Still, since then I’ve persistently emailed, phoned, and spoken to planning’s receptionist asking to pass on messages and left voice messages for many people in the department but nobody ever replies.

In the end, I went through the council’s formal complaints procedure which has a 10-day timeframe to liaise with planning enforcement and come back to me. The time elapsed and I didn’t hear a peep out of them so I chased them again, they confirmed receipt but now another 10 days have elapsed and still nothing from them. Apparently, 20 days are reserved for complex complaints (but mine is that I merely want someone to reply to me!) but I’m past 20 days now anyway.

Any ideas on where I go from here?

Welly