Council can't find planning permission for HMO used since 1992

170 Victoria Road, Scarborough which had been in use as an HMO since the 1990s, council officers said. Courtesy of Applicant (Image: Applicant)

A SCARBOROUGH property owner has been granted retrospective planning permission to operate a holiday let and house in multiple occupation after the council launched an enforcement investigation.

The property, at 170 Victoria Road, has been used as a holiday let since 2024 and has been an HMO since the 1992, according to a council report into Peter Walker’s application for a four-bed HMO and a one-bed holiday let.

The application was the result of a planning enforcement investigation by North Yorkshire Council, which found that the works “appear to have taken place in 2023/2024”.

Council records indicate the property has operated as a five-bed HMO since 1990s, while the ground-floor holiday let has been advertised online since August 2024. Officers noted that no planning permission could be found for the property’s historic use as an HMO, despite council records indicating it had operated in that way for decades.

Interior Of 170 Victoria Road, Scarborough. Applicant.

Scarborough town councillors objected to the plan and stated that the scheme did not comply with local policies and raised concerns about “an overconcentration of HMOs”, which they said could lead to antisocial behaviour.

No comments were received from residents and the Highway Authority said it had no objections to the plan.

NYC’s environmental health team warned that subdivision of the property represented “an intensification of use and has the potential to increase noise disturbance and waste generation when compared to the four-bedroom residential part of the property, and the subsequent change of use on the ground floor to a holiday let”.

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However, council planners suggested that as the building was previously a five-bed HMO, the application “does not result in an additional HMO, rather a reduction in size, as such it is not considered to result in an increase in density of HMOS in the area”.

Officers “understand that the application building has been used for a house of multiple occupation in excess of 10 years; no planning permission can be found for the change of use of the building as an HMO” a report states.

The environmental health team’s records indicate that an HMO licence was granted in 2014 and in 2019 it was registered on the Scarborough HMO register.

“The local taxation team advise that their records indicate it has been used as an HMO since 1992.”

Interior Of 170 Victoria Road, Scarborough. Applicant

Planners said it was considered necessary to include conditions on the retention of communal spaces for the HMO “as the proposed bedrooms are modest in size and are not sufficiently sized to function as combined sleeping, living, and dining spaces”.

“As such, they would not reasonably be able to accommodate the furniture and facilities expected for safe and comfortable occupation.”

The application was approved by North Yorkshire Council, subject to conditions, on Thursday, October 1.