Planning Success – Certificate of Lawfulness for HMO in Salford

Planning House are delighted to have secured approval of a Certificate of Lawfulness for an existing House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) in Salford.

In this case our client needed to secure confirmation that the C4 House in Multiple Occupation Use (HMO) was lawful as an Article 4 Direction to prevent change of uses between Class C3 dwelling houses and Class C4 HMOs came into effect within the area.

An Article 4 Direction can be made by a Local Planning Authority for a specific area, covering a multitude of restrictions.  Basically, an Article 4 Direction removes rights for development which otherwise would be permitted without planning permission.  In this instance stopping the change of use of a C3 residential dwelling to a C4 HMO (with to 6 people sharing accommodation).  This C3 to C4 change of use is permitted development unless restrictions are in place.

We demonstrated that the use was lawful by including evidence in the form of tenancy agreements, home insurance, purchase questionnaire, correspondence with the Council and a copy of the HMO license issued by the Council.

Our case was that the material change of use from Class C3 to Class C4 had occurred as permitted development before the Article 4 came into effect and, therefore, the Class C4 HMO use of each property was immune from enforcement action and hence lawful in planning terms.

Salford Council concluded that on the balance of probabilities the use of the property as a C4 HMO was lawful and issued the certificate of lawful development.

Related Content:

Our Practical Guide to Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) covers all the town planning basics relating to HMOs.  And our FREE Practical Guides cover the basics of for Certificate of Lawful Proposed Use or Development (CLPUD)  and Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development (CLEUD) are available on our website in our HMO Collection.

You might also find our article about HMO’s & Certificates of Lawful Development useful.

If you are in need of further assistance with anything related to HMOs or lawful development certificates a town planner can provide you with the guidance you need, please feel free to CONTACT US to discuss your situation.

HMO CLEUD Salford