The Planning Bill, outlined in the Queen’s Speech in May 2021, aims to create a simpler, faster and more modern planning system so that more homes can be built and quickly. There is currently a shortage of housing in England and Wales, in particular affordable housing and homes for people deemed vulnerable, such as those with learning disabilities or mental health problems, the homeless, refugees or victims of domestic violence.
Currently, under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, planning permission is required before any development takes place or if there is going to be a material change in the use of a property. Planning permission is deemed granted for certain developments and changes in use under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (the GPDO 2015), known as “permitted developments”. Although planning permission is required to carry out the development or change in use of the property, the application process does not need to be followed and permission is deemed to have been granted. One example of a permitted development under the GPDO 2015 is the conversion of office premises to flats.
Under Article 4 of the GPDO 2015 however, a local authority can make a direction to remove or restrict these permitted development rights (Article 4 Direction). It may do so if it considers that the development or change in use being proposed will result in the loss of character or appearance of certain buildings or the neighbourhood, or if it wants to control local housing stock by restricting the number of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in the area. If there is an Article 4 Direction registered as a local land charge then planning permission is no longer deemed granted and a planning application will need to be made for any proposed development or change in use.
Converting a single dwelling house to a small HMO (a house in which between 3 and 6 unrelated individuals share a kitchen and/or bathroom) is a permitted development and does not need planning permission. Planning permission will be required when converting a single dwelling house to a large HMO (where more than 6 unrelated individuals share a kitchen and/or bathroom) as this falls into its own separate ‘sui-generis’ use class. However, many Councils now have an Article 4 Direction in place to prevent property being used as a small HMO without express planning permission being given.
During the first lockdown in March 2020 and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic the Government introduced the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Coronavirus) (England) (Amendment) Order 2020. This legislation created a temporary emergency permitted development right allowing for development or change in use of existing buildings without the need for a planning application. Combined with the “Everyone In” programme, which saw the Government ask local authorities to accommodate all those sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough in order to prevent the spread of the virus, local authorities made use of empty hotel rooms to provide temporary accommodation for people who were in need of a safe place to stay. It has been reported that over 90% of rough sleepers were offered accommodation as a result.1
Many hotels continue to be used as emergency accommodation but with lockdown restrictions easing and the successful vaccine roll-out, it raises the question of how those in temporary accommodation will be re-housed given that there is a shortage of move-on accommodation and affordable housing generally, coupled with a predicted spike in the number of household evictions who will go on to need temporary accommodation once the ban on evictions has been lifted.
It is widely acknowledged that the pandemic has hit the hotel and hospitality sectors the hardest, with limited or no travel allowed since March 2020. Even before the pandemic, many hotels were unviable or already vacant. Despite restrictions easing, social distancing will make it difficult for many sites to operate at full capacity and it is uncertain whether they will recover post-lockdown, particularly outer- city hotels where there was limited business pre-pandemic, and unlikely to be much more post- pandemic.
Developers and investors are now asking why they are unable to purchase unviable or empty hotels and convert these into HMOs without the need for change of use planning permission. Colliers International has previously asked for planning rules to be relaxed to make it easier to change hotels into housing or care facilities.2
Impact investors in particular, who invest in organisations and funds with the intention of creating a positive social or environmental impact as well as making a financial gain, are interested in converting empty properties into housing. HMOs are an important source of low cost, private sector housing and it is necessary that there is enough capacity to meet the increasing demand. Just as important is the need to ensure that the location and quality of HMOs are sufficient so there is not an adverse impact on the local area. Hotels are usually found in areas with good public transport links near local facilities, therefore being in a convenient location to build affordable accommodation. Removing the requirement for planning permission for change of use from a hotel to a large HMO would create additional housing without the need for building new homes and enable more accommodation to be provided, faster – the potential for a ‘Covid Success Story’.
1https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9057/#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DThe%20Government%27s%20%27Everyone%20In%27%20initiative%2Cduring%20the%20Covid%
2D19%20emergency.%26text%3DBy%20November%202020%2C%209%2C866%20people%2Csettled%20accommodation%20
or%20supported%20housing
2https://www.colliers.com/en-gb/news/16-06-20-colliers-international-proposes-easing-of-planning-restrictions-for-hotel-owners
