Use Class Orders
classes of use of property for England are set out in the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 and its subsequent amendments.
A list of Use Classes is available on the
palnningportal website .
HMOs do not fit neatly into this classification, which makes it difficult for Councils to regulate them.
Use Class C3
I asked Ron Armstrong ( Councillor, North Jesmond) to explain the current issues over use Class Orders
Here you go ( with thanks to Ron)
In England, in planning terms, Use Class C3 is defined as follows:
C3 - Family houses, or houses occupied by up to six residents living together as a single household, including a household where care is provided for residents.
This means that what was a family house ( or a house occupied by a single person ) can be used as an HMO with up to 6 tenants without the landlord asking for planning permission ( since the two are in the same Use Class ), provided that the landlord does not make any alterations to the property which would of themselves require planning permission, whether or not the property was a family house or an HMO. Newcastle City Council has no discretion in this matter - it is a situation which can only be changed by the UK Parliament.
Planning officers tell me that case law for planning appeals suggests that only when 9 or more tenants are in an HMO will Planning Inspectors agree that planning permission is required, and it is for this reason that in Newcastle planning officers are sometimes reluctant to act when HMOs are set up with 7 or 8 tenants without previously seeking planning permission.
In Northern Ireland the the equivalent Use Class ( C1 ) has been defined since 2004 as:
Class C1: Dwellinghouses
Use as a dwellinghouse (whether or not as sole or main residence) –
- (a) by a single person or by people living together as a family; or
- (b) by not more than 6 residents living together as a single household where care is provided for residents.
In Northern Ireland anyone proposing to change the use of a dwelling house previously occupied by a single family or a single person to an HMO now needs to obtain planning permission.
I personally would like to see the planning law in England changed so that it is the same in this respect as the as the planning law in Northern Ireland.
Created on /16/04/2009 09:00 PM by pcooper
Updated on /21/05/2009 09:18 PM by pcooper
|
|
|
