Spelthorne’s New Article 4 Direction: Briefing and Analysis

In this post we will outline Spelthorne Borough Council’s recent decision to apply an Article 4 direction to the conversion of houses into small HMOs …. and look more closely at the actual story behind it.

Article 4 directions for HMOs …. and what is important to know about them

Article 4 directions are an integral part of planning law. In England they originate from The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. Permitted development allows certain things to be done without planning permission. An Article 4 direction allows a local authority to withdraw this right and require planning permission to be obtained to do it. They are a matter for local government. It is up to individual local authorities to decide if they wish to make use of them or not and, if so, in which parts of their area.

When it comes to houses in multiple occupation large HMOs (7+ unrelated residents) always require planning permission. Smaller HMOs (3-6 unrelated residents) do not always require it. Converting a dwellinghouse (C3 planning class) into a small HMO (C4 planning class) is a permitted development. Unless, that is, a local authority introduces an Article 4 direction to remove this right.

Very importantly here, Article 4 directions are intended for use in what the rules say are ‘exceptional circumstances’. Where, for example, evidence suggests that the spread of or high concentration of HMOs harms 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 the wellbeing of a particular area. They should be based on robust evidence and only apply to the smallest geographical area possible.

The Secretary of State has the power to modify or cancel Article 4 directions, although can only do this where there are clear reasons. Article 4 directions can be subject to a judicial review.

An Article 4 direction can be either immediate or non-immediate. If a local authority makes an immediate order then potentially they could be required to pay compensation to any parties who are adversely affected by it. For this reason non-immediate directions offer advantages for local authorities who wish to use them.

More information here: HMO Rules & Regulations: A Simple Guide For Landlords

Spelthorne Borough …. some background

The Borough of Spelthorne is located in Surrey and is based around the town of Staines upon Thames. It is within the M25 and Greater London area, around 20 miles from central London, but it is not a London borough. It comprises several small town centres and is largely suburban with a population around 100,000.

Although close to London and within the London commuter area (and also close to Heathrow Airport which provides many jobs for residents of the area) Spelthorne does not have such a highly pressured property market as many London boroughs do. Property prices and rents here are lower. However as elsewhere in the country there is demand for budget accommodation and HMO landlords have looked to service this market in recent years.

In Spelthorne, as elsewhere, large HMOs always require planning permission as well as a licence. (The local authority moved to a risk based system in April 2024, which determines whether a 1,3 or 5 year HMO licence is granted.) Until now smaller HMOs have not required planning permission. There is no additional HMO licensing or selective licensing of rental properties here.

Spelthorne’s new Article 4 direction for smaller HMOs …. how and why

Spelthorne Borough Council’s minutes show that the issue of whether small HMOs require more regulation, such as by using an Article 4 direction, has been periodically monitored here. This has been done by way of a joint effort between the Planning Enforcement and Environmental Health teams. They have collected relevant statistics and prepared reports for council meetings.

The matter was discussed at council meetings in 2018 and 2020. On both occasions it was decided that no further measures would be introduced at that time, but that the situation would be monitored and reconsidered at a future date.

The matter came up for consideration again at a meeting of the council’s Corporate Policy and Resources (CP&R) Committee on 15 April 2024. But this time the outcome was very different.

The Committee considered the latest Houses of Multiple Occupancy report. This had been prepared by the council’s Planning Development Manager, Senior Environmental Health Manager and Principal Environmental Health Officer. The report reassessed the matter using a further four years of data. It used planning and environmental health data to undertake a spatial analysis, by ward, of the numbers and types of HMOs which exist and the extent of the complaints received about them. The objective was to seek agreement as to whether or not an Article 4 direction should be applied to small HMOs throughout the borough, or in just part of the borough, or to leave things unchanged until after another review at a future date.

In summary, the report did not recommend that small HMOs should be subject to an Article 4 direction. It reported: ‘there is still insufficient evidence’ to support this. The report referred to the low level of complaints about HMOs, the fact other measures were available to deal with any issues, and the possible negative impacts of imposing an Article 4 direction on tenants who need this type of budget accommodation. But it recommended that: ‘if the position changes and the number of complaints relating to HMOs which are permitted development and which are causing negative impacts on neighbours increases significantly, a further report will be brought to the CP&R Committee by 1 May 2025.’

However, after considering the report the councillors at the meeting disagreed with its recommendation – and actually questioned its validity. They decided to approve the introduction of an Article 4 direction to cover three wards within Spelthorne.

The minutes of the meeting said: ‘The Committee felt that the Officers’ recommendation to continue to monitor the situation for another year was based on the figures within the report but members felt that they were not a true reflection of the number of issues surrounding HMOs. Some members had been contacted by residents who were not willing to put in an official complaint for fear of retaliation and those cases were not included within the report statistics.’

The outcome of the meeting was that the Committee resolved that the council would introduce an Article 4 Direction withdrawing the permitted development right to convert a dwelling house (C3) to a small HMO (C4) across the three wards of Ashford North & Stanwell South, Staines, and Stanwell North. The rationale was that these were the wards with the highest number of complaints and applications relating to HMOs.

An order was made on 21 August 2024. This was a non-immediate Article 4 direction to come into effect after one year of its introduction, ie. on 29 August 2025. It was decided that this decision would be reviewed at the same committee within a year to consider any further evidence and also to decide whether to extend the Article 4 Direction to other  wards in the area.

The council has launched a consultation process on the proposed Article 4 Direction, under which interested parties can submit comments, which runs until 14 October 2024.

Some thoughts on the Spelthorne Article 4 decision

Next let us look a little more at the story behind the Spelthorne direction.

Supporting documents prepared by the council’s officers and presented to the CP&R Committee appear to suggest that, while it is not insignificant, Spelthorne has a fairly modest HMO sector. This is certainly the case when compared to other parts of the region. Also, it does not seem to receive a particularly large numbers of planning complaints about them. Neither has there been a particularly large number of applications to create new HMOs in recent years.

Figures show that there are around 141 licensed HMOs across the 13 wards of the borough. (No estimates of the numbers of unlicensed HMOs, including small HMOs, were presented in the report.) Ashford North & Stanwell South ward has the highest number of licensed HMOs at 31. Several wards have just a handful of licensed HMOs, or even none at all. In all the wards HMOs seem to be well distributed across the area rather than, for example, being heavily concentrated in just a few streets as occurs in some places.

For comparison, the London Borough of Lambeth in inner London has a population just over three times higher than Spelthorne but has 36 times more HMOs requiring a mandatory licence (circa 5,000).

Figures show that there was not a particularly large number of planning complaints about small HMOs (where planning permission was not required because they had six residents or less) in recent years. Between 2019 and 2023 (representing four full years) there were 41 such complaints – ten a year on average – a 0.025% complaints rate per household in the borough.

Figures show that there were not all that many planning applications to create new, large HMOs. Between 2019 and 2023 there were 14 applications. Of these 10 applications were granted and four applications were refused.

So, some people might wonder why this situation arose at all. They might wonder why Spelthorne needed to consider taking it in the first place.

At the council meeting on 15 April 2024 it was reported that some of the councillors present felt that the Houses of Multiple Occupancy report was not representative of the true level of complaints about HMOs by Spelthorne residents. They felt that there were many complaints that were not officially recorded as residents were reluctant to complain for fear of possible repercussions. However they did not present any evidence to support this feeling.

In brief, council officers who have (or should have) a close knowledge of the situation on the ground did not feel there were sufficient grounds, nor evidence, to justify an Article 4 direction. Councillors disagreed with this recommendation, as they are entitled to do, and decided to introduce one anyway.

Some people may be watching to see if the Article 4 direction is confirmed, especially in the light of the consultation. And will also be watching to see what the officers recommend, and what councillors decide to do, when the matter is reviewed in future. Could the decision even be open to a challenge?

In practical terms, since Spelthorne’s HMO sector is fairly small in the scheme of things, this decision may not have much impact on the market – and may offer few benefits. The introduction of Article 4 in just part of the area will not severely impact either would-be HMO landlords or tenants who are in need of HMO accommodation here. In many ways, however, this is still quite an odd state of affairs. One takeaway for landlords and those in housing enforcement everywhere might be that planning decisions as well as housing licensing decisions are sometimes arrived at in somewhat unusual ways and do not always seem to make sense!

Further information

All the official documents relating to Spelthorne Borough Council’s decision including the Houses of Multiple Occupancy report and details of the consultation can be found here.