Council row over HMO approvals in Scarborough town centre

A row has erupted over the number of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in the centre of a North Yorkshire town.

All proposed HMO conversions in Scarborough should be required to apply for formal planning permission, town councillors have said.

Currently, houses can be turned into small HMOs without requiring planning consent and changes to the rules are needed urgently, according to Coun William Stuart.

Speaking at a full meeting of Scarborough Town Council on Tuesday (July 28), Reform’s Coun Stuart said his research showed that 89 per cent of the 130 registered HMOs in the Scarborough area are located in Scarborough town itself, and added that more than half of those have five or six occupants and do not require planning consent.

Coun Stuart said: “That means there has been no planning control whatsoever on more than half the HMOs in Scarborough.

“And what’s more, there are still no planning controls on any future HMOs with five or six occupants at all.”

North Yorkshire Council’s website states: “A house in multiple occupation is a house where at least three people live who are not from one household and live and share a toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants.”

The council has a register of HMOs on its website and mandatory licences “apply to all houses in multiple occupation that are buildings in which two or more families or individuals share basic amenities”.

At the meeting, Coun Stuart argued that an Article 4 direction – which would remove normal permitted development rights and require full planning permission to turn a single-family home into a small shared house for three to six people – is needed to control the “proliferation of smaller HMOs that currently require no planning permission”.

However, Independent councillor Rich Maw questioned whether the town council had the power to introduce an Article 4 direction.

He said: “Residents are being told that town council can deliver an Article 4 direction to control HMOs. Isn’t the reality that only the principal planning authority, in our case North Yorkshire Council, can induce an Article 4 direction?”

He added: “If that is the case, can we be honest with residents about what we can and cannot do, and then focus instead on how we properly influence and monitor change at the right level?”

Coun Stuart said: “I think we’ve seen just how badly this town needs an Article 4 direction to control the continued proliferation of smaller HMOs that currently require no planning permission.”

The town council resolved to refer the matter to its planning and licensing committee for further discussion.