A Look at Spelthorne’s Borough Wide Article 4 Directions

In September 2024 we wrote about Spelthorne Borough Council’s decision to apply an Article 4 direction to the conversion of houses into small HMOs.

Spelthorne Borough Council’s decision to ‘go nuclear’ with Article 4 and extend their initial, recently introduced scheme out into every ward of the borough.

Article 4 – a quick heads up

As many will know, Article 4 directions are a housing management tool rooted in planning law. They give local authorities power to remove the right to do something that normally doesn’t require planning permission.

When it comes to Houses in Multiple Occupation, local authorities can use Article 4 directions to control the creation of new HMOs. They can do this is by removing permitted development rights to convert a dwelling house (planning class C3) into an HMO with 3-6 residents (planning class C4). Larger HMOs always need planning permission of course.

Around 55% of English local authorities have at least one Article 4 scheme of this kind. They are quite separate from HMO licensing.

Important things to know are that Article 4 directions are supposed to be a fairly ‘narrow brush’ tool. The rules say they are for use in ‘exceptional circumstances’, where large numbers or concentrations of HMOs are harming the local area. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requires local authorities to demonstrate that an Article 4 direction is necessary to protect local amenity or wellbeing. Schemes must be based on robust evidence and applied to the smallest possible geographical area.

Article 4 directions can be challenged by the Secretary of State, are subject to judicial review and local authorities can be ordered to pay compensation in some cases if they are applied incorrectly.

About Spelthorne

Spelthorne district is in Surrey. It is within the M25 and Greater London, around 20 miles from central London, but is not a London borough. It comprises a number of small towns/large urban villages of which Staines upon Thames is the largest.

As well as local demand for rented homes, Spelthorne is attractive to London commuters probably due to its good infrastructure and lower prices and rents than places closer to London. Other factors in the property market here are its proximity to Heathrow Airport (said to be the UK’s largest single site employer with 90,000 employees) and a number of university campuses. Likely these factors have made the area popular with HMO landlords in recent years.

Although local authority debt is very much a fact of life nowadays, Spelthorne has been reported as having the second highest level of debt in England at just over £1bn. In May the Government appointed Commissioners to the authority. Spelthorne is also due to be abolished with local government reorganisation and become part of West Surrey in 2027.

Spelthorne’s Article 4 history

The matter of whether smaller, C4 HMOs should require planning permission was discussed at Council meetings in 2018 and 2020 but no further action was taken then. However, at a meeting of the Council’s Corporate Policy and Resources Committee in April 2024 this changed.

The Committee considered the latest Houses of Multiple Occupancy report from the Council’s Planning Development Manager, Senior Environmental Health Manager and Principal Environmental Health Officer. This report did not recommend small HMOs should be subject to an Article 4 direction, commenting ‘there is still insufficient evidence’ to support this.

After consideration, however, councillors disagreed and also questioned the report’s validity. Some members said they had been contacted by residents who were unwilling to put in an official complaint about HMOs. They suggested that as a result the report was not a true reflection of the problems HMOs were causing.

Members decided to approve the introduction of an Article 4 direction to cover three wards – Ashford North & Stanwell South, Staines and Stanwell North. Since these were the wards with the highest number of complaints and applications relating to HMOs. Subsequently a non-immediate Article 4 direction was made in August 2024 to come into effect on 29 August 2025.

The latest Article 4 scheme

Some might have thought that with the first Article 4 scheme starting in August 2025 some time might be allowed for the new rules to bed in. Indeed, the 2024 HMO report suggested that the situation should be monitored and a further report could be compiled later in 2025. Things developed more quickly however.

In January 2025, when the planning committee voted to confirm the original three-ward Article 4 scheme, they also resolved to make an Article 4 direction to cover all the remaining 10 wards in the borough. This comprises Ashford Common, Ashford East, Ashford Town, Halliford and Sunbury West, Laleham and Shepperton Green, Riverside and Laleham, Shepperton Town, Staines South, Sunbury Common, and Sunbury East wards.

Minutes do not seem to suggest that the proposal was discussed in any great depth. Concerns were expressed that expanding Article 4 borough-wide could be challenged, although it was also suggested that this was unlikely.

In March 2025 the second Article 4 direction was made also on a non-immediate basis. This was confirmed in December 2025 and subject to consultation and final approval will come into effect on 13 March 2026.

Some thoughts

Only just over half of local authorities use Article 4 directions in relation to smaller HMOs.

Although they are very different of course, selective licensing schemes tend to be more the tool of the moment, as well as more controversial. Blanket, borough-wide Article 4 schemes are relatively rare too. Indeed many may argue that such blanket schemes go against both the purpose and also the rules behind them.

Spelthorne does not appear to have a particular problem with HMOs, especially when compared to larger, more urban areas. Council figures from 2023-24 showed that there were then 141 licensed (so basically larger) HMOs and 23 what were described as ‘potential HMOs’. While one ward (Ashford North & Stanwell South) had 35 HMOs some wards had very few. Complaints received about HMOs and potential HMOs were moderate in number.

Council documents do, however, report a ‘marked increase’ in HMO numbers between 2023 and 2024. Interestingly, they put this down to landlords deciding to create HMOs before the introduction of the first Article 4 scheme.

So the fact that Spelthorne councillors approved their first scheme, against the recommendation of their officers, was a bit of a surprise. The fact that they resolved to introduce a blanket scheme – and particularly without waiting to see what impact the first scheme has – is perhaps a further surprise.

Some digging into local press stories and social media posts in the area does reveal quite a bit of resident concern about the spread of HMOs. This is understandable perhaps, as in recent decades the area has transitioned from being something of a Surrey backwater into part of London in all but name. Responses to the Council’s consultation on the first scheme also show some significant concerns over the impact HMOs were having on the area. There are also concerns the first scheme would push HMO landlords into the wards which were not initially covered by it.

It seems like someone, somewhere feels that Spelthorne is at risk of being bought up en masse by HMO landlords.

Of course, maybe this is just a case of councillors doing what their voters ask them to do instead of what they want to do? (If so, a revolutionary idea maybe, but perhaps one other local authorities might try.)

With Spelthorne due for abolition in 2027, when Surrey is reorganised into just two local authorities, perhaps there was also a desire to get everything sorted locally before powers over planning and housing head off elsewhere.

Let us end with a few thoughts for landlords and the agents who work with them.

Existing small HMOs in the area are not affected by the Article 4 directions. (Unlike would have been the case if additional or selective licensing had been used as a way to regulate them.)  Nor should new HMOs that are already being created be impacted. The rules say that small HMOs do not need planning consent if they are occupied by tenants or if construction has started when the direction comes into force.

An Article 4 direction does not necessarily mean that landlords cannot apply for permission to create a new, small HMO – and obtain it – nor appeal against refusal. Permission may still be given for an HMO so long as it accords with local planning policy. The Council’s own figures show that many areas in Spelthorne still have few large HMOs. So it could be difficult to argue that these areas are overburdened with them and more should not be approved on those grounds.

At the end of the day it is likely to take some time to see what impact this blanket Article 4 scheme has on the HMO and wider property market in the area. But this, as well as the way it has been brought in, is something that is likely to prove interesting to landlords, investors and housing professionals, and no doubt local authorities in other areas too.