A committee at City Hall has heard there are growing concerns about problems associated with the growth in number of HMO houses in North Belfast.
At the latest Belfast City Council Planning Committee, elected representatives noted an appeal on a decision to refuse an application by Mr Seamus Goodwin of Dromore to change 51 Glandore Avenue Skegoneill in North Belfast to a house of multiple occupancy.
New planning regulations introduced in May this year mean the application, which was refused in February on the basis it went over planning thresholds in the street, no longer would result in an excess of HMOs there.
Read more: Belfast councillors "frustrated" at Cathedral Quarter plan and demand explanation from developer
However, councillors from the Planning Committee indicated an intention for the council to stick to the collective decision to refuse the application at Glandore Avenue, during the appeal. The City Solicitor agreed to compile a collection of refusal reasons from the council to send to the Planning Appeals Commission.
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 pack houses with 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.
And now elected representatives are warning that parts of North Belfast are heading that way.
Alderman Dean McCullough told the Planning Committee: “The new policy is the new policy. But it is deeply disappointing, and I want to register that, because I know that particular area, and there are growing issues with the increasing number of HMOs.
“I appreciate we have to take it case by case, but there are now huge issues in that area that are affecting the 80 percent plus of residents that live there consistently. That includes a whole host of antisocial and anti community behaviours. Residents have raised concerns to us on many occasions, including our Planning department.”
Council officers spoke against the Glandore Avenue application in February this year and elected representatives duly refused it.
There were 32 objections to the new HMO by locals submitted to the council. They cited concerns including over-intensification of the site, cramming, and loss of quality family sized accommodation, with the plan to convert a four bedroom dwelling to a six bed HMO.
They also raised concerns about anti-social behaviour, noise, and nuisance with the site located in an interface area. Locals also raised issues of loss of amenity space upon living, kitchen, garden space, and additional pressures on sewage, water, bin storage, parking, as well as a loss of privacy.
Comments made in the objectors representations also showed a general worry regarding the potential new tenants, specifically the transient style of tenancy associated with HMOs, the impact on the local sense of community and maintenance of homes.
Since the council's decision the Belfast Local Development Plan was adopted, in May this year. This provides a new policy framework for decision-making, and an appeal was made on Glandore Avenue.
The council report on the application states: “There is now a new policy for HMO development and whilst the threshold remains the same as 10 percent outside Housing Management Areas, the methodology to calculate this figure has now changed.
“It confirms that the level of HMOs outside a HMA will be measured by adding together the number of HMOs recorded under the HMO Licensing scheme and the number of planning approvals for HMOs not yet licensed, with the total then divided by the total number of dwelling units within the street.
“If a street is longer than 600m, the total number of dwellings in the street will relate to the total properties within 300m either side of the property on the street. The assessment under policy finds that there is capacity for HMOs on Glandore Avenue and therefore it is the opinion of officer’s that the previous refusal reason could no longer be sustained under the new policy approach.”
