Seven-person HMO at 8 Cleveland Road, Southsea

What was proposed

The applicant sought a certificate confirming that changing an existing six-person, six-bedroom HMO to seven people and bedrooms would be lawful.

“This application is a proposal under section 191 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to demonstrate that the existing use of building is lawful for planning purposes. Specifically, it seeks to demonstrate that increasing the number of occupiers in an existing lawful HMO by one occupier would not result in a material change of use. Thereby this would not require planning permission, and the proposed development is lawful. The…”

“- Public - increase in occupancy would be facilitated by using the front roof room labelled as 'study' as a seventh bedroom. All bedrooms are stated by the Applicant to be single occupancy. The applicant has stated at the time of submission, the property was occupied as a 6 Person/6 Bedroom HMO .”

Officer report

The site and its history

The site is a two-storey terraced dwelling with roof rooms, and an existing HMO certificate was approved in August 2025.

“The application site is a two-storey terraced dwelling with rooms in the roof in a predominately residential area.”

“25/00933/CPE - Certificate of lawful use for existing use as a C4 HMO. Approved 7 th…”

Officer report

What officers recommended

Officers considered the extra occupant would not materially affect noise, parking, rubbish or antisocial behaviour, so planning permission was unnecessary.

“The additional bedroom is to be created within the roof of the building, currently a 'study'. The use of the space as a bedroom is unlikely to result in any demonstrable change in the level of noise for the adjacent neighbours. Further, while the occupation will increase, the use of the communal space is unlikely to change in function and the addition of one occupant is therefore not considered to result in a material change to noise levels within the property.”

“The use of the property under the Council's Parking standards and transport assessments SPD would be expected to provide 2 parking spaces as either a 6-person/6-bedroom or 7- person/7-bedroom HMO and therefore it is considered unlikely that the additional occupant would result in a material impact on parking. The required cycle storage for the site would also be unchanged.”

Officer report

What people said

Eight objections raised concerns about HMO saturation, parking, antisocial behaviour, local services, licensing and the property’s history.

“The following comments were raised. Apart from the last bullet point below, none of the objections are relevant to the determination of this Lawful Development Certificate;”

“10% Policy is not adequate in providing mixed and balanced communities • The planning process is being undermined by retrospective applications. • Anti-social behaviour from the property's tenants; • Parking issues • Area already over-saturated with HMOs and the amenities - such as car parking, refuse collection and sewage infrastructure - is already over-subscribed due to the high concentration of residents in the area.”

Officer report

Who spoke

A councillor gave a deputation against the application and did not take part in the committee’s discussion.

What members debated

Members said the change from C4 to another use was material, while officers explained that certificate applications could not assess policy or room sizes.

“Members' Comments In discussion, members made the following comments:”

“Although there was planning permission for up to six occupants, the change from C4 to sui generis was clearly a material change of use and therefore required planning permission. • Officers reminded members that with Certificates of Lawfulness they could not consider matters such as the impact on mixed and balanced communities or room sizes. They could only consider the individual case in front of them and grant or refuse the application for the certificate.”

Minutes

The committee’s decision

The committee resolved to refuse the certificate because it considered the increase from six to seven occupants a material change requiring planning permission.

“RESOLVED that the certificate of lawfulness for the proposed use be refused for the following reasons - the proposed increase from a 6 person/6 bedroom HMO to a 7 person/7 bedroom HMO would constitute a material change of use and therefore require planning permission.”

Minutes