Agenda item

            The HMO Unit Manager informed the Committee that an application had been received for a new Licence to operate a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) for 14 Fitzroy Avenue.  He advised that the Applicant was Mr. A. Dodds and the Managing Agent was Ballygowan Limited trading as Belvoir South Belfast. 

He reported that on the 31st January 2023, pursuant to Paragraph 9 of Schedule 2 of the Houses in Multiple Occupation Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (“the 2016 Act”), officers issued a Notice of Proposed Decision.  The Notice of Proposed Decision stated that the Council proposed to refuse the licence on the grounds of overprovision. A statement of reasons for the proposal was included in the Notice of Proposed Decision. If the application was refused, the Applicants had a right of appeal to the County Court. An appeal must be lodged within 28 days of formal notification of the Council’s decision.

            The HMO Unit Manager provided the Members with background to the property which had the benefit of an HMO licence through the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in the name of the existing owner but which had expiredon 14th August 2019. Further to this, on the 12th April 2019 a reminder letter was sent to Mr. Dodds informing him of the need to apply to renew the licence.

An inspection of the property took place on the 5th July 2019 in anticipation of an application being submitted, during which the Managing Agent was in attendance, however, the Council did not receive an application to renew the licence.

            On 12th October 2022 an application for a Temporary Exemption Notice “TEN” was received and subsequently approved on the 19th October 2022, an extension to the TEN was approved on the 17th January 2023 which would expire on the 17th April 2023. No further extension to the TEN were permitted under the 2016 Act.

            On the 27th September 2022 an HMO licence application was received from the owner of the accommodation.  

The HMO Unit Manager explained that, as this was a new application, the HMO Unit had consulted with the Council’s Planning Service which confirmed that on the 20th August 2007 permission was granted for “Change of use from existing HMO to 2 no. self-contained flats (1 no. HMO) and alterations” with the planning reference Z/2006/2887/F. 

Further to this, The HMO Unit Manager added that for the purpose of determining whether or not the granting of a licence would result in an overprovision of HMOs in the locality of the accommodation and, in order to ensure consistency was both a planning and licensing authority, the locality was defined as being HMO Policy Area “HMO 2/22 Botanic, Holylands and Rugby” as defined in the document “Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) Subject Plan for Belfast City Council Area 2015.  He reported that Legal Services had advised that there was a clear requirement in section 8 of the 2016 Act upon the Council to be satisfied that the granting of a licence would not result in overprovision.

The HMO Unit Manager advised that on the date of the assessment, 4th January 2023, there was a total of 1,112 licensed HMOs in HMO policy area “HMO 2/22 Botanic, Holylands, Rugby”.  This equated to 46.16% of the total dwelling units of 2409 within the policy area which in turn exceeded the 30% development limit as set out at Policy HMO 1. The 1,112 licensed HMOs had a capacity of 4951 persons.

            On 25th January 2023 out of 39 premises available for rent within the BT7 area on the website PropertyNews.com there was 9 licensed HMOs which, from the information presented on the website, represented 41 bed spaces. The availability of the HMO accommodation ranged from immediately to August 2023.   Anecdotal evidence from previous conversations with HMO managing agents suggested that that there was currently a lack of HMO accommodation available in this locality.

            He reported that, on 7th December 2022, the Ulster University Director of Campus Life told membersof the Council’s City Growth and Regeneration Committee that there was an “increase in competition for HMO’s particularly from the NIHE, Immigration Services and statutory agencies and there were increasing accommodation issues across the housing sector which required a holistic view and should include the consideration of international student families and graduates looking for professional accommodation.”

            However, the QUB Director of Student Plus had confirmed to Members that the current trend indicated a significant move of students away from areas such as the Holylands, which had seen a fall in student numbers by 35 percent to purpose-built student accommodation blocks. She had told members that there were 7,000 purpose built managed student accommodation (PBMSA) rooms in the city – the majority built since 2018 and approximately 5,000 in the city centre.

            He further reported that, in November 2022, monitoring information produced by the Council’s Planning Services for PBMSA indicated that 2154 bedspaces were currently under construction with 646 bedspaces becoming operational in September 2023.  With the continued expansion of the PBMSA sector and students transitioning from private rentals in the HMO 2/22 Botanic, Holylands, Rugby policy area to PBMSAs, it was too early to tell whether the increased competition from non-students for HMOs was a temporary problem(which could be managed by the contraction in students residing in existing HMO accommodation within the locality) or evidence of an emerging long-term supply issue.

            The HMO Unit Manager added that, in assessing the number and capacity of licenced HMOs as well as the need for HMO accommodation in the locality, officers could not be satisfied that the granting of the HMO licence would not result in overprovision of HMO accommodation in the locality of the accommodation for the purpose of section 8(2)(d) of the 2016 Act.

            The Applicant and Managing Agent had confirmed that they had not been convicted of any relevant offences, and that there had been no relevant enforcement action taken with regard to day or night-time noise, rubbish accumulation, litter or waste.

The HMO Unit Manager referred to Representations on behalf of the Applicant dated 3rd February 2023 and the officer’s response to representations made on 3rd February 2023.  He provided details and timelines which were contained within the documentation and communications set out in the appendices. Subsequent representations had been submitted from both the Applicant and Managing Agent which had been circulated by Democratic Services to the Members in advance of the Committee meeting. He reported an issue whereby the Applicant had claimed that, in relation to the new application, an officer from HMO Services had told Mr. Dodds via email that the file had been completed on 26th October 2022.  The HMO Unit Manager had consulted with the officer and checked the records and stated that there was no evidence that this communication had been sent.  The Managing Agent had been asked to supply a copy of the correspondence but it had not been forthcoming.  He explained the importance of this because if the file had been completed by 26th October then the Council would have had 3 months to make a determination of the application and as that time had lapsed a deemed licence would have automatically been issued.

            The Chairperson welcomed the Applicant, Mr. A. Dodds and the Managing Agent, Mr. S. Hewlett to the meeting.

            Mr. Dodds provided the Members with details of the property and described it as a quality property which was lightly occupied for the footprint of the building. He referred to the email that could not be traced and advised that that he had been working on the premise that the property was an HMO.  He informed the Committee that he had religiously kept up to date with the requirements of HMO legislation.  He added that the situation was galling as he had invested over £100,000 into the property. Mr. Dodds informed the Committee that he had received a grant for the property and the decision to refuse the licence would be counterintuitive.  He concluded that he hoped common sense would prevail.

Mr S. Hewlett added that the lack of licence prevailed under the banner of Steve

Hewlett Associates.  He referred to a ‘doorstep’ conversation with a Council Technical Officer in 2019.  He steadfastly repeated that the officer said that ‘the licence would not be a problem’ and stated that this could have been a misunderstanding or lack of HMO training during the transition period from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Belfast City Council.  He also referred to a conversation which he claimed had taken place between an HMO Technical Officer and a member of Mr. Dodds’ staff on 9th November 2022 whereby the officer apparently stated that he could see that the application had been uploaded on 20th to 24th October and didn’t know why he was not notified.  On that basis Mr. Hewlett felt that the 3-month period of grace had expired when the Council issued the Statement of Refusal at the end of January.  He requested to adjourn the decision to give him time to review the paperwork and launch a formal appeal.

                 The Interim City Solicitor/Director of Legal and Civic Services clarified the legal process in relation to the request to defer the decision.  She reminded the Members of their obligations as a quasi-judicial Committee in that they would have to engage with the request to defer and it was a matter for the Committee to decide how to engage.

                 A Member referred to the time given to the Applicant and Managing Agent to provide the information requested.  The HMO Unit Manager confirmed that the Notice of Proposed Decision had been issued on 31st January 2023 and engagement had taken place with Mr. Dodds and Mr. Hewlett through correspondence.  Another Member also questioned the 3 years which had lapsed since the potential administration error.

            The Committee agreed to refuse the application on the basis that granting the licence would result in overprovision.