A financial adviser has threatened to take a legal challenge against Belfast City Council for refusing an application for a student-type HMO licence in the Holylands.
At the recent Belfast City Council Licensing Committee meeting, elected representatives refused an application for a new licence to operate a House of Multiple Occupation for Apartment 2, 14 Fitzroy Avenue, Belfast. The licence was refused on the basis of overprovision, as recommended by council officers.
The applicant was Arthur Dodds, finance adviser and director of his own independent financial advice company. Mr Dodds previously had an HMO licence on the property which expired on August 14, 2019. The decision will mean the flat will have to be reduced from a three person to a two person apartment.
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The council said on April 12 2019 a reminder letter was sent to Mr Dodds informing him of the need to apply to renew the licence. A council report states: “An inspection of the property took place on the 05 July 2019 in anticipation of an application being submitted. The managing agent was in attendance during the inspection, however the council did not receive an application to renew the licence.”
The council policy states that amongst five considerations the council may only grant a licence if it is satisfied that “the granting of the licence will not result in overprovision of HMOs in the locality.”
The council report states: “On the date of assessment, January 4 this year there were a total of 1112 licensed HMOs in the policy area “Botanic, Holylands, Rugby.” This equates to 46.16 percent of the total dwelling units of 2409 within the policy area. Which in turn exceeds the 30 percent development limit as set out.”
HMOs, which landlords lease out to three or more tenants from different addresses, have become increasingly controversial, with some arguing they have negatively affected communities and led to anti-social behaviour, in places like the Holylands and Stranmillis in South Belfast where landlords rent houses to undergraduates.
HMO licence renewal cannot be refused on the basis of overprovision of such properties in an area, but new licences can be refused on this basis. While the council policy is that HMO’s should not account for more than 30 percent of any area, in reality many streets well exceed this, with some in the Holylands reaching over 90 percent.
At the Licensing Committee, elected representatives heard Mr Dodds believed his HMO licence on the property had been renewed in 2019 until 2024. The council report states: “A representative of Mr Dodds submitted a written response to the notice of proposed decision.”
It adds: “The representations refer to Mr Dodds owning the property from 1994 and spending more than £100k converting the property to HMO standards in 2008 and the property being registered by the NIHE as an HMO since 2009.
“The representative acknowledges that a reminder letter dated 12/04/2019 was received which was passed to the applicant’s letting agent to apply on his behalf. The representations then deal with an inspection of the property and an exchange between the letting agent and the HMO manager regarding fire safety standards.
“Details of an email dated 25 September 2019 are included in which the letting agent reassured Mr Dodds representative that – “I’ve chased BCC/HMO twice since then and again this morning, asking for the licence to be verified and issued; hopefully, I’ll get a response this week but as far as I’m aware from e-mail communication between myself and HMO, you are covered.
“Based on the email exchange with the letting agent Mr. Dodds was of the understanding that the HMO licence had been renewed in 2019 and remained valid until 2024.”
It concluded: “Officers have examined the relevant records and have found no evidence of advice being provided to the letting agent confirming that the owner was covered regarding the HMO licensing of the accommodation.
“Further, officers confirmed that the council only received an HMO licence application on September 27 2022 - which is over 3 years after the previous licence expired on August 14 2019.”
Mr Dodds told the Licensing Committee it was “galling” that his property would be “disqualified” after spending so much on it, and said the matter involved an “administrative hiccup”.
The managing agent for Mr Dodds told the Licensing Committee: “Whilst ignorance of the law is no excuse there are instances of reasonable excuse being accepted when legislation is not being followed to the letter of the law.”
He added: “The doorstop conversation with your advisor did say to me that the licence would not be a problem. It may have been a misunderstanding between him or I or a lack of information or training as far as HMOs are concerned, given that they were going through a transition between NIHE and BCC at the time.”
As the Planning Committee were about to make the decision he asked for a deferral so he could “review the paperwork further and lodge a further appeal”. Elected members did not defer, and unanimously decided to refuse the application.
Mr Dodds has a right to appeal to the County Court within 28 days of formal notification of the decision. Up to this date, the council could not confirm whether an appeal had been lodged.
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