To have handed the new owners the no more HMO letter from the council regarding the street.

[itsmeits]

Thats it basically, new owners of down the road have been at the property this morning with the builder.
They politely introduced themselves, I welcomed them to the street and said look forward to seeing them around.

The Man then told me we won't see them as the house will be a HMO.
I asked do you not know there is an order no more HMOs on the street - did the estate agent not tell you, it's a protected area due to the amount of HMOs in the area. The 10% rule.

They both looked flabbergasted and informed me it would be a HMO.
Said I would be back in a minute, toddled back to mine printed the email (took out personal info) and handed them the information.
Pissed was not the word. I have been told I am lying and made this up. Advised they speak to councilort confirm the information.

YABU - leave them to - even though there is an order saying no more on the street.
YANBU - this information should be on the house listing when selling so potential buyers know.

We weren't even allowed to accept a box of chocolates for Christmas at my Council

Good to hear, @Seeline

In ours, an earlier head of planning is still serving a jail sentence because he took his fraudulent activities just a bit too far ... and that's only the ones they found out about

Sure. But then that antisocial behaviour needs dealing with.

That would be nice. But the police don't seem to consider it their job any more.

The former Mayor of Liverpool is facing bribery and corruption charges. So.

There are a lot more involved than just the previous mayor, drspouse

Try to be surprised ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17qn4ng0gko

I'm trying... I'm trying... nah, can't manage it.

Surely you have over used the commas there?!

No idea, I only managed to learn up until semicolons, I never got to grips with a whole one.

(Edited for wrongly grammar)

I think this must be the case. I've had HMOs in London for 30 years. All my tenants have been nice, middle class, young professionals, many from abroad doing internships and such. Round my way you are much more likely to get antisocial behaviour from families who rent whole houses.

I'm guessing it's different outside London.

This is a national legal minimum, not one set by your council. Some councils set tighter limits for licensing ie less people etc but that is the minimum.

They'll need to apply for a licence at which point they will find they won't be granted one. If they don't (apply for a licence) you'll need to report them.

Woah! Infuriating!

Exactly the same at my council, not allowed to accept any gifts although we always used to get diaries each Christmas from one agent! People making claims of back handlers etc have no idea whatsoever of how the planning system works or that it just can’t be manipulated in that way.

Or we strike a balance by limiting the number of HMOs and ensuring they aren't all concentrated in a small area.

It's the MPs you have to watch out for. How Jenrick, the next Tory leader, got away with trying to fix it so his mate Richard Desmond could stiff Tower Hamlets for £106 million is shocking.

If only that were trrue, GiroJim100

Nobody suggests the rot infests all councils, but while I appreciate it may be comforting to believe corruption just doesn't happen, turning a blind eye hardly helps

And some of us are speaking from a standpoint of cold hard experience ...

not young professionals in HMOs that's the problem. It's the druggies, unemployed, mental health sufferers, criminals, illegal immigrants, etc. People in "naice" areas with young professionals won't understand what streets full of HMOs with social problem tenants are like
This.
It is from a very comfortable place that the hmo's in your areas are young professional people are paying rent and not government substituted rent scheme HMO's.
Some have 2 or 3 families in one room, living with people with severe mental health and issues.
They are a surge to the police too, antisocial behaviour.

Or he didn't tell the solicitor he was planning an hmo

Hmo mortgages are more expensive than standard btl mortgages. If they tell their solicitor they are planning an hmo the solicitor will check their mortgage allows for it. If they apply for a standard btl mortgage and don't mention the hmo to the solicitor or the broker then is the solicitor at fault?

@ArtTheClownIsNotAMime

"Or we strike a balance by limiting the number of HMOs and ensuring they aren't all concentrated in a small area."

Surely the amount shouldn't be limited below the number needed to house those who have no other option except this type of accommodation?

The problem is that if this is private sector accommodation, they'll only be built in areas where they're economically feasible and where landlords face fewer objections to planning applications. I suspect this means they will always be in roads and postcodes which have cheaper housing than surrounding postcodes, and usually in areas where there are more residents in rental accommodation rather than owner occupiers.

You need to inform the council now, the council take ages to get ground to enforcement proceedings. They ar eobviusly just going to carry on and ignore the order and whoever they rent it to could be at risk of losing deposits and rent. Don’t wait.

Could someone enlighten me as to what an HMO is? It’s probably something so obvious, then I’ll feel stupid, but hey ho 😂

House of multiple occupation

Ooh... Someone is going to be VERY unhappy with their solicitor/Vendor/EA!

I'm surprised they didn't check that themselves tbh.

YANBU.
Probably saved them £. CFs for blaming you!
Caveat emptor - buyer hasn't done their due dilligence, oh dear.... Still i don't know what consents they might need for an AirBNB so you're not out of the woods, so to speak.

Trouble is many students don’t want to live in purpose built accommodation. They see it as a right of passage to house share - this is not a new thing.

There can be purpose built shared flats in blocks. Other than that it’s not possible in many towns. In mine the university want to increase student numbers by 15000! How? Where will they live, which dentists and GPs will they use? It’s madness. The whole town will be stuffed full of HMOs