Landlords and students defeated in planning fight

York landlords and students have lost a battle against planning restrictions for shared homes. York City Council voted to impose an Article 4 direction that requires property investors to obtain planning permission for all homes shared by between three and six unrelated tenants. Property investors planning to let shared homes or HMOs - homes in multiple occupation - have a chance until April 2012 to buy, refurbish and rent the properties without applying for the permission. Article 4 rules are part of the Town & Country Planning Act and are a tool taken up by around 30 English councils to limit the proliferation of shared homes for students in university cities. Among other councils ready to apply the direction are Oxford, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Southampton. Support for the direction is split in York - while residents in student neighbourhoods are for the proposal, landlords, students at both of the city’s universities and businesses argued the policy will push up rents and limit accommodation options in the city. University of York Student Union president Tim Ellis said: “Article 4 basically says students are not wanted or not allowed in certain areas.” While York Residential Landlords Association said Article 4 would lower housing standards and reduce the number of affordable homes for students and young professionals in the city. Chairman Niall McTurk said: “The decision is discriminatory to students and will be particularly damaging to young people, the unemployed and those on low incomes who wish to live in York. “We proposed a joint strategy with the student unions aimed at targeting bad houses, landlords and tenants who occasionally cause concern to neighbours, as well as developing and possibly funding an accreditation scheme to encourage and promote best practice. This was totally ignored.” Meanwhile, tackling problems with students is top of the agenda for a new lobby group for residents in the Lye Valley neighbourhood of Oxford. More than 40 residents turned out for the group’s inaugural meeting. They are targetting problems with shared homes, and parking as issues to discuss with the city council.

Landlord blog

Siobhan Smith

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