The degree to which kitchen and cooking facilities are allowed in HMOs can often cause considerable confusion among developers. This can arise mainly due to overlap between Planning and Housing licensing regimes.

As a result, it is not unusual for developers to inadvertently find they are under investigation from the Council’s Planning Enforcement Team for converting a property into flats that do not meet with national space standards.

In this article, we look back on a recent case with one of our clients, how the problem arose, and how this was resolved.

HMO rooms: with bathrooms & kitchens?
In terms of planning use classes and planning law, an HMO room cannot be self-contained (i.e. its occupants must be sharing either a bathroom/ WC or kitchen). Otherwise, this would be a flat in Use Class C3. An HMO would be in Use Class C4 or, if there are more than 6 bedspaces in the property, within Sui Generis (a miscellaneous category outside the other use classes).

Our client sought to maximise the occupancy in his house, with the benefit of extensions to the property. These extensions were carried out lawfully under permitted development long before we were involved, whilst the property was still in use as a single dwelling house.

However, before sub-dividing the property he asked his builder. The builder had sought advice from the Housing licensing team on the proposed layout of 9no separate rooms, each with their own kitchen and hobs, and bathrooms and WCs. The licensing team looked at the plans with regard to the application of the Housing Acts, not in terms of planning legislation. They confirmed that the plans were acceptable and the builder proceeded with the works.