August 2014
Full council considered a petition from residents in the Carholme ward calling for the authority to take action to limit the growth of HMOs.
Due to issues raised by the growth of HMOs the council carried out a city-wide consultation. They therefore decided to seek the views of residents and other interested parties.
December 2014
The councils HMO scrutiny committee considered those views and the availability of options and decided to pursue the introduction of an article 4 directive.
March 2015
A second public consultation was carried out resulting in a total of 268 responses. Of these, 133 were in favour of an article 4 directive with 130 against and the remainder were observations. See further information on Lincoln HMO article 4 direction.
The main reasons given for those supporting article 4 directive suggested the over saturation of HMOs. Some believe this had led to the deterioration of local communities. The current planning controls due not having the power to address this issue. So it was felt the concentration of HMOs has had a serious impact on the lives of the permanent residents.
On the flip side reasons against included the obvious effect on the value of property and an increase in rent for those living in HMOs.
The council comittee then conducted a third consultation took place in September and October 2015. The aim was to focus on the criteria that could be adopted for applications.
Article 4 Decision
On the 25th January 2016 the Executive condidered the results of this and other evidence gathered. At this meeting the Executive agreed to implement an Article 4 Direction from 1st March 2016.
An umbrella accreditation scheme is being developed with a view to support trusted landlords. This should help improve the quality of housing in the Lincoln city area. Organisations such as the National Landlords Association (NLA) are keen to work with the council on this umbrella scheme to help promote responsible landlords.
Most noteworthy the golden rule of thumb for HMO planning applications is as follows. HMOs will be no more than 10% of properties within a 100 metre radius of the property should be HMOs.
What are your thoughts and how will this affect the way you invest in multi-lets?