HMOs and Article 4 in Nottingham: what investors need to know

Nottingham has one of the largest student populations in the country, and for years family houses were converted into shared homes without needing planning permission. Nottingham City Council's Article 4 direction changed that.

What Article 4 does

Normally, changing a family house (use class C3) into a small HMO for three to six unrelated people (use class C4) is permitted development. An Article 4 direction removes that right, so a planning application is needed. In Nottingham the direction covers the whole city.

Small and large HMOs

HMOs with more than six occupants fall outside the C4 class and are 'Sui Generis', meaning they need planning permission everywhere, Article 4 or not. Large purpose-built student HMOs fall into this category.

What the council looks at

• The concentration of existing HMOs in the surrounding area
• Room sizes, shared kitchen and living space, and outdoor amenity
• Bin and cycle storage, and the effect on parking
• The design's impact on the street scene and on neighbours

Planning is only half of it

HMOs are also licensed. Mandatory licensing applies to HMOs with five or more people forming more than one household, and Nottingham operates additional and selective licensing schemes too. Licensing sets standards for room sizes, amenities and fire safety, so it pays to design to them from the start.

How design makes the difference

In our experience, the strongest HMO applications replace something that harms the street with something that improves it. For one investor client, we replaced a two-storey flat-roofed retail building with a four-storey, twelve-bedroom new-build student HMO, a scheme taken through to the Section 106 stage.

This guide is general information for projects in England and isn’t a substitute for advice on your specific site. Rules change; we’ll always check the current position for your project.