Vicky Cranthorne, Office Manager for iConn Property Management writes:

The local Canterbury City Council are due to make a decision to introduce a policy from December this year regarding planning permission required for HMO Properties (Houses of Multiple Occupancy).

If the policy is introduced in December it will only really effect Landlords looking to invest into the student market. If the property the landlord purchases is already rented in a student or sharer capacity then they do not need to do anything BUT if the landlord purchases a property with the intention to rent to students or sharers and it is not already being rented this way they will need to apply for planning permission from the council for a “change of use”.

In principle the council are looking to regulate the amount of HMO’s in Canterbury in order to not flood certain areas of the city and to keep the neighbourhoods diverse.

From past experience I would say that the timescale for obtaining the permission could be lengthy and as the permission is not a guarantee could be risky for new landlords and obviously i’m sure there will be costs involved!

There are some interesting points raised on the Councils website from local residents and businesses, both for and againist and further information can also be found on the website:

http://www.canterbury.gov.uk/main.cfm?objectid=1191  

Here is a snippet from this page:

The Article 4 Direction, which requires planning permission to be obtained for the change of use of residential dwellings (Class C3) to Housing in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)(Class C4), has been consulted on for a period of 6 weeks, (from 9th December to 21st January 2011), and people were invited to comment on the Direction. Once comments on the Direction have been considered, the Council will have to decide whether or not to confirm the Direction.

 The Article 4 Direction applies to the urban area of the City of Canterbury, and the wards of Sturry North, Sturry South, Barton, Wincheap, Blean Forest, and the parish of Harbledown and that part of Lower Hardres parish to the north of the A2.
 The Council recently consulted on a draft supplementary planning document relating to HMOs, and the comments received in relation to the SPD will be considered by the Council in due course. The making of the Article 4 Direction will not affect the Council’s consideration of those comments, and there may be amendments to the draft SPD. The Article 4 Direction simply provides the framework in which an SPD can be implemented.