Project: Planning Permission for an HMO | Location: Bedford Road, Bootle | Date: July 2019
The property was a large three storey terraced property located in a residential area in Bootle. The proposal was to convert the property into a six-bedroom House in Multiple Occupation. Each of the bedrooms had its own en-suite facilities consisting of a toilet, wash basin and shower. There would be a communal kitchen, communal dining room and a shared lounge area for residents. There was a rear yard, which residents could use for outdoor drying and a shared external bin store. The basement will be used to provide secure cycle storage for residents as well as an internal drying area.
Sefton Council has imposed an Article 4 Direction on the area which restricts the prevents single family dwellings being converted into Houses in Multiple Occupation without planning permission. The Council has also produced a Supplementary Planning Document which sets out minimum criteria that HMO’s must meet. In addition, the housing service also operates a HMO licensing system, so there were a number of obstacles to be overcome to get this application through.
We undertook survey work in the locality to demonstrate there was not an over concentration of HMO’s in the immediate area. We then turned to the accommodation within the property itself. The Council’s main concerned to ensure that all bedroom sizes met minimum space standards, there was adequate communal space and outdoor amenity space. The outdoor amenity space was a particularly thorny issue as a kitchen extension had previously been added to the property and this occupied much of the rear yard which meant that there was a shortfall in terms of the outdoor amenity area required by planning policy and that available. Following negotiations, it was agreed to restrict the number of bedrooms to five on the basis of the kitchen extension remaining.
Planning Permission was granted by Sefton Council for a 5-bedroom House in Multiple Occupation. The client was pleased with the outcome as having to remove the kitchen extension would have incurred significant expense and reduced the value of the property. It would also have made the property less attractive to prospective future tenants.
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