Watch: Navigating the HMO planning process – tips for approval

Speaker (00:06.071)

Hey, hello everyone. How are you all feeling? Good? Yeah, OK. It’s going to get even better. We’re talking about planning. So thank you for joining this session all about navigating the planning system. There’s a lot to get through, so this will be a bit of a whistle stop tour. But if you have any questions, you can always come and grab me at some point after the session.

So I want to start by asking you a question. If you’ve got a mobile, you can scan this QR code. Give it a go. So the question here is, what is the purpose of planning? You can add one word, a couple of words. And the reason I’m starting like this is because if we’re going to talk about navigating the system, we probably should think about what the purpose of it is to begin with. So I can see a couple of people typing. It be interesting to see what you say. Control. Interesting one. OK.

So I imagine the experience across the room is going to be very different. Can I have a raise of hands if you’ve applied for planning before? OK. So good. Good, Mick. So you’ve either had a really great experience, loved your planning officer, or maybe something a little bit more colorful, maybe a bit more frustration, limiting supply. That’s really interesting, because we know that the government are pushing so heavily around build, build, build.

1.5 million houses by the end of this parliament, allegedly. So the thought of limiting is very interesting. Money. And it’s a valid point. Some of you may have seen that the government have increased the planning fees and will continue to do so year on year. So if you applied for planning permission five or so years ago, expect that that fee has gone up significantly since.

Mitigation against failure. I wonder what that means. It can mean a whole host of things, probably. Outside of the property context, mitigation is often used in planning to offset problems around environmental issues, even affordable housing provision and restriction. Okay, due diligence. It’s not all bad. I thought people were just going to send angry face emojis at me, but healthy mix here. So… I’m a planning consultant. We’re used to it.

Speaker (02:19.47)

Great misery! like that. Well, believe it or not, planning does not exist just to give you a headache. So, the what behind planning is to control the use and development of land. So, whoever started us off was spot on. But it’s deeper than that as well. So, we’ve got quite a text-heavy slide here. And the purpose of the planning system is actually laid out in something called the National Planning Policy Framework. Some of you will be familiar with that.

And it explicitly says that the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. Now, what does that mean? So, remember that sustainability is not just about the environment, it’s also about social and economic factors as well. That’s why we’re hearing the government talk so much about it. Okay, it’s also for the broader economy. And taking that a step further, what that means in practice is meeting the needs of today.

without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their needs too. So there’s a temporal factor in this. We’re not just talking about building for today. We’re talking about using the planning system as a tool to build for many generations to come. In theory. That might not be your experience, but that’s what it’s supposed to be. So I’m going to run through three top tips on how you can navigate the planning system. And of course, the first one is going to be about how you can communicate this idea of sustainable development.

Okay, so we need to start speaking the same language as our local authorities. If their local development framework is there to achieve and contribute to sustainable development, are you explaining how your proposal does this? So a couple of different icons on the screen here. When we talk about HMOs, people usually think antisocial behavior, issues, noise, potentially poor housing quality. Frankly, my view on this is that you can get that for any type of housing.

whether it’s family housing, council housing, there are issues everywhere, and I think we need to be better as a community around advocating for the positives for HMOs. So, sustainable development, what sorts of things are we talking about here? Housing choice is an obvious one. There are lots of people that would actually prefer to live in an HMO. Andrew touched on this in his session. So, maybe they don’t want to live alone. Maybe actually for mental health reasons. know loneliness is really critical.

Speaker (04:41.79)

across the country at the moment, whether you’re young, a student, or actually post-divorce, older populations we’re seeing are also attracted to HMO settings, this might be the housing choice for you. There’s also looking at, of course, affordability. There’s no point pretending we’re not in a housing crisis. More and more people need housing. And although an HMO doesn’t contribute to, say for example, a six bed isn’t the equivalent of six houses, you are still providing accommodation.

And that’s really key. It’s key for people who might want to work in hospitals nearby and are on contract basis. So maybe they’re going from one area to another. And then also looking at things like transport and wider environmental issues. So a lot of the time when you’re buying an existing building and converting it to an HMO, you’re looking at your licensing standards, potentially planning policies, and oftentimes there’s refurbishment and you may be improving the energy efficiency of the property.

You may even be exploring things like solar panels and air source heat pumps. All of that is contributing not only to what’s happening in your immediate site, but the broader location as well. So are you looking at that? Are you including it in your planning statement? Even if you’re not applying for planning permission, maybe because you’re doing it under permitted development rights, keep stock of all the things you’re doing because later on you might be applying for planning for a different project, HMO or otherwise, and you might have some great data there around

how you have been contributing to sustainable development locally. The second top tip may feel obvious. hope it’s obvious. Do look at your local plans. I can’t tell you how many times I hear people come to me and say, Massa, I found this great site. going to be an amazing HMO. Fabulous. I can more than meet the licensing requirements. And I know somebody who got planning permission nearby. So I think it’s going to be fine. And I say, well, have you checked the planning policies in the area? No.

and it’s very difficult to manage this process retrospectively. So let me tell you what I mean by that. This is an example from Bristol City Council. They have a specific HMO policy and within that they have some rules around concentration. The one on the left is an example of sandwiching, which is usually prohibited in these sorts of areas. So sandwiching can mean things like having two HMOs on either side of a family dwelling.

Speaker (07:04.384)

that might be in place because they want to avoid disruption or generally the change to the character of the area. And then on the right-hand side, we have an example of radius control. So there may be a specific policy around the number of HMOs in a given radius, in this case, 100 metres. We’ve also got some other examples, I think probably too small for you all to see from there, but more around concentration. The example on the bottom left talks about

no more than 10 per cent of houses can be converted to an HMO on a given street. So, when we’re thinking about saturation, if you haven’t looked at this, and you’re right up into the point of applying, and we assess how many other HMOs are in the area, this policy applies. We can’t change the use of the buildings around us. So, you are in some respects set up for refusal already based on the policy. And we can do our best to work around it, but ultimately, it’s pretty black and white.

There’s also other examples for, I think we’ve got two up here, there’s a requirement for the original building to have been no less than 130 square metres, or in this one, 120 square metres. So even if you’ve done extensions and you’ve enlarged the property since, you can’t go back in time and change how it was originally built. And you might think, why do they introduce policies like this? Well, there’s something called a strategic housing market assessment, and you can find that on your council’s website.

And it generally explores the type of accommodation that that particular area needs. And maybe they identified that they need to preserve three-bed houses of a certain type. Or even they want to promote single use and single occupancy as well. You won’t know until you look. So each area is different. It has its own population requirements. And these are where the planning policies are coming from. So the more you’re familiar with these, the more prepared you’ll be at the point of submission.

There’s also an example with the red arrow that I thought was quite interesting where they have said there needs to be a minimum EPC rating of C as part of their HMO policy. Okay, so we talk about this a lot at the sort of general national level. It’s been very theoretical. Will there be a minimum EPC rating of C in 2025, 2028, 2030? Regardless of that, here’s an example where planning policy has had it in place for some time.

Speaker (09:24.755)

So again, even though something might not apply to you in one local authority area, it may very well in the next.

The third top tip here is around communicating with neighbours and council officers. I know for a lot of you, this might be a triggering topic, but it is important to highlight because fundamentally, any planning application will be public record and it will be open to a consultation. So we said in the room that planning can sometimes bring us misery. We have our own preconceptions around that. Your neighbours will too. If they get a letter in the post saying there’s a planning application for an HMO,

and all they’ve ever seen around HMOs are headlines with critical issues in the neighbourhood, drug use, noise, all of these stereotypes, then of course they’re going to be worried, and that’s a very natural response. So this is where you can come in early on, particularly if you’re going into a new area. Have those conversations, knock on those doors, introduce yourself if you know a planning application is going to go in. It might not go well, but at least you tried, and it might be something you can reference as part of your submission as well.

Okay? when we’re thinking about planning offices, trust me, I know how hard it can be to get a hold of somebody in the council. But again, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying. And, you know, there so many different stages where you can engage. So has anyone here gone through pre-application advice? Okay. So not as many people as we had applying for planning. And that makes sense. You might not always need to apply for pre-app.

but it is a process where you can get that advice before a full submission. If you’ve got a project that’s a little bit more complex or you’ve got the time to flesh out your different options, it may very well be worth using. So that way you can introduce yourself to a planning officer earlier in the process. Once you submit, I know how tempting it can be to email them, call them constantly, especially when your application is weeks, if not months overdue. But frankly, as someone who’s…

Speaker (11:28.392)

been on the other side as well, all that’s going to do is frustrate them and it probably won’t result in the outcome that you’re hoping that it will. Okay? So I always say better to wait for an approval than to rush a refusal. I know it’s tempting, but, you know, checking in is fine periodically, but overdoing it isn’t going to get you where you need to be. And just remember, it’s people on the other end of that. Planning officers tend to be really under-resourced. Their caseloads are super high. And as much as HMOs are our world,

for them, it might be a very niche and not necessarily as high on their priority list as some of the other applications they’re getting. Also, if you’ve had good experiences with other officers across the council, maybe your licensing officer is amazing, they think you’re fantastic, get something in writing from them. Maybe you can include that as part of your application. So, you know, use these different sources. If you’ve got other HMOs where your tenants have provided really positive testimonials and said they love it, include that in your planning application.

All of this is about telling a story. So when they come across it on their desk, they know exactly what you’re applying for. And finally, a of a practical note. Every council will have its own validation checklist, and this breaks down what you need as part of your submission. These are changing, and increasingly we’re seeing more requirements at the validation stage. So do look into that. I know a lot of you will work with a planning consultant. Hopefully they’ll do that for you.

But also it’s well worth just being familiar. Of course you’re going to need floor plans, your planning statement, but what other things are coming up in your area or even in nearby areas because that might start creeping into your applications as well. So like I say, that was a whistle stop tour. I think how I would end is to really think about some of the points I said around communication. That is the key skill for you. Whether you’re communicating as part of your planning application or to your council officers.

or even to neighbours, you’re trying to explain how this site is contributing positively. You don’t have to use the phrase sustainable development for a lot of people that’s whoosh over the head or maybe seems a bit like a buzzword, but actually breaking it down. What are you providing in terms of housing? What are you providing in terms of the local economy? And in terms of the wellbeing of the occupants living there too. All of this can be explained and if you’re not applying for planning permission this time, it may very well…

Speaker (13:50.365)

helping your reputation and future applications as well. Thank you very much.