16^th Mar 2018

An Industry Body is strongly urging the government to repeal the fees that councils can charge when an Article 4 Direction has been applied.

Article 4 Directions were introduced under Section 4 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 removing permitted development rights in designated areas such as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Beauty. It means that anyone who wishes to make alterations to a property or change its usage has to apply for planning permission from councils.

At the end of last year the government introduced a new amendment to the Town and Country Planning . This gave councils the new power to charge a fee of £462 for anyone who applies for permission to alter their property in the designated areas where development rights have been removed. The new amendment was introduced in a very low key manner and since the beginning of the year, people are only becoming aware of this when applying for planning permission in those areas when being immediately charged and given an Article 4 Direction.

In the past councils usually invoked Article 4 Directions to reduce numbers of HMOs in a particular scenic area and stopping landlords from being able to rent out properties. Irrespective of whether landlords are given planning permission or not........they still have to pay the charge.

A spokesperson for the industry views the Article 4 fee levied by councils on landlords as simply a revenue generating exercise.

He said: “Article 4 Directions have long been a bugbear for landlords wanting the ability to change the structure of their portfolios. The introduction of the fee is nothing more than another revenue generating exercise. Councils are effectively removing permission and then charging people to get it back.

“This will not result in shared properties reverting back to family use, as councillors repeatedly say when introducing Article 4 Directions.

“It’s more likely that the existing tenures will be set in stone, as HMO landlords won’t let to a single family if it means losing the option to go back to letting to sharers later on.”

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