HMO licensing and Article 4: what London landlords keep getting caught by

A landlord converts a family house into a three-person share, applies for the HMO licence, and assumes that is the compliance job done. In much of London, it is not.

The two separate hurdles

Licensing and planning are different things, decided by different teams, under different rules. You can hold a valid HMO licence and still be using the property unlawfully if the council has an Article 4 direction in place and you have not applied for planning permission.

What an Article 4 direction does

Normally, converting a family home into a small HMO for up to six people is permitted development and needs no planning application. An Article 4 direction removes that permission in a defined area, so a planning submission becomes mandatory. Large parts of east and north London are covered.

How landlords get caught

Usually at the point of sale or refinance, when a solicitor asks for the planning position and there is not one. Enforcement can follow, and in the worst cases a property has to revert to single family use, which destroys the yield the conversion was built on.

The straightforward check

Before converting anything, check whether the address sits inside an Article 4 area on the council's own planning map, and check the licensing requirements separately. If you are unsure, we will check the council's position for you as part of an appraisal. It takes us an afternoon and it has saved landlords a great deal more than that.

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