To accept a huge loss on my house

Keep updating. I have proffered advice but I have learnt some more which I am certain will prove useful in the future

It’s normally the house builder/developer. However it would certainly be worth telling the council. Have you got legal help as part of your house insurance? I’d be contacting them if so.

What are you going to do next?

This is such good news! And when the dust settles and you can remarket your house, you can tell prospective buyers this salient fact - they are protected in a way which they aren't with most houses.

OP, what a turn up for the books! What a positive piece of detective work and research. I'm sure the next steps won't be easy, but I'm so pleased to read this update. You must be so relieved and delighted you posted on here. @Wooky073 what an incredibly helpful contribution.

Have you ever let a house?

Local councils not knowing what they are doing is quite a common issue.
If you have evidence of the article 4 (eg a document / email) then put in a stage 1 complaint to the council as to why they gave planning permission for the HMO when there is an article 4 restriction. Put the onus on them as to what they will do about it. Threaten legal action on the council. Get some legal advice. Which legal do a service where you pay an annual fee of £99 (sometimes cheaper on an offer) then you have access to solicitors for a range of issues and can call as often as needed. Your home insurance may also have a legal helpline.

As the poster below also states check the deeds for restrictive covenants with land registry - probably do this before complaining to the council as then you have 2 counts of them failing in their duty. You can check with land registry for the title deeds - lots of online tools to do so - may have to pay a small fee for these.

There is much you can do to sort this out - a pain to do so, but that is life. Best of luck.

... or simply a shared house of four people ! Or an owner + 3 lodgers , Or two owners and two lodgers etc etc .... They are usually in city centre areas where shared houses or students need to be controlled due to occasional overcrowding / fire safety / poor conditions etc etc . With recent graduates and school-leavers unable to buy houses or rent one-bed apartments ( if they're on less than 40 000 ) .... I expect very many young people under 45 would end up living in HMOs . . . . . .until they save up to buy - - - - - - - - -( in their 50s )

Estate agents are also usually letting agents and members of property managers and letting agent partnerships.

They work together with landlords to pay the cheapest possible price for property.

Take no advice from estate agents. Years ago they could be relied on to give good advice, now they get more commission as letting agents, and all you are doing by selling a house under value is lining their pockets.

By all means sell under value if you can escape commissions and legal fees, but think carefully before you do. Have a look around the neighbourhood. Houses owned by property managers and landlords usually have something similar like the same front doors, the same cladding etc. The detached houses on the estate where I live have been bought up - during and just after covid - by a collection of people in property as a partnership and turned into two homes at very high rents, to keep the residents of 'quality'.

I haven't had time to read all the answers, so sorry if it's already been mentioned, but one thin g that's worth looking at is whether the house is subject to any restrictive covenants. It's a long shot, but you can get a coy of the title from the Land Registry, and if the house was built before the war it's quite likely to be subject to restrictive covenants, as they were the only way of controlling the use of a house before planning law was introduced after the war.

You may find, for example, that there is a covenant restricting use to a single dwellinghouse, or prohibiting using the house for business purposes, and an HMO would potentially be a breach of both covenants.

If you do find any such covenants then the next question is who, if anyone, can enforce them, and in particular whether you can do so. You'd need legal advice on that, and it may well be disappointing, but it would certainly be worth looking into.

So when you speak to planning enforcement, what do they say? If you report this as a breach of planning, they will decide if its expedient to take action. If you are saying there is an article 4 in place, thats because they cared enough about limiting HMOs to pursue an article 4 to remove deemed consent for conversion to an HMO. It usually then follows they will enforce against it, but yes there is often the issue that their licensing dept might have licensed it. If they won't, id like to know their reasoning and id also be speaking to my local ward members to ask them why. The way to make it politically expedient is to put pressure on members and also highlight the embarrassment of them not having two arms of the council aligned.

I've lived in HMOs. First one was nice at first, but the nice people moved out and then the nasty people moved in (parties, getting drunk, smoking weed, doing coke and drug dealing, and I had my stuff nicked.) The second one I didn't last long in, it was a house split into two flats, one guy lived in the upstairs flat and the downstairs flat had four bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen. The landlord was round all the time and would tell me off for doing stuff (none of those things were against the rules or in breach of the tenancy agreement.) We had to pay to use the tumble dryer but weren't allowed to dry clothes inside, the rotary washing line in the garden was falling apart, and there was no gate, so I didn't much fancy leaving my clothes outside. Didn't last long there, I moved into a studio flat after less than a year and a half, (my own bathroom and kitchenette, bliss!) Then found out I was pregnant, applied to the council for housing and now live in a two bedroom flat. Miss my old flat, it was lovely.

Yeah I've lived in several houseshares and there was no living room, every room was just a bedroom then kitchen and bathroom.

Genuinely think this is some sort of attempt at stirring up some sh1t about the kind of people who tend to make up a heavy majority of HMO residents. If your house is literally attached to this other one, you will have received a letter that details how you might raise objections. HMOs on a ‘quiet cul de sac’ would not pass a feasibility study for a start

Can you keep it and let it out?

"AIBU?" is the wrong question. The reality is you'll need to cut your losses if you want to move.

We currently are going through the same thing. We maybe lucky though as we have had a warning that it's happening so they whole street are getting together to stop it

What type of HMO? 3 or 4 young professionals sharing a newly refurbed home I wouldn't mind. Students or supported housing I certainly wouldnt want to live near.

Also the "loss" may not be as big as you think, if you compare what you would have paid in rent over the same period. I'm potentially selling mine for the same I paid but I've saved approx £60k compared to renting in the 10 years I've owned, plus the mortgage payments have built equity which will be refunded to me when I sell, so I see myself in quite a lot of "profit" even selling for the same price or less and accounting for legal fees, removals etc (estimated figures)

A house a few doors down from me has been converted into HMO. The neighbours have no noise problems but all of us on the road have a problem with all the extra cars and 2 work vans. I wouldn't choose to live next door to one. Maybe sell to someone who wants to rent it out and not live there themselves.

You keep repeating the same information and what is being said to you, but what advice are you following and what have you done do far?

MN cannot solve this for you!

You need to find out asap!