'Ambiguity': Telford HMO extension plan rejected by planners
A property owner has been told they don’t have permitted development rights to build an extension to increase the number of beds at a Telford house in multiple occupancy (HMO).
The house in Dudmaston, Hollinswood, is already a four-bed HMO but owner Sheer Assets Ltd wanted to build a single-storey rear extension to increase that to six.
Deepika Duddukuri, of the company based in Baldwin’s Gate, Staffordshire, applied to Telford & Wrekin Council for a Certificate of Lawfulness for the proposal.
The company had told council planners that the extension falls within permitted development.
“There is a strong demand for rooms to let in the area,” the applicant wrote, "and granting this permission will help alleviate the current shortage of rental accommodation.”
The applicant told planners that the property had been in use as a “residential institution” and the proposal would move it to a specific HMO category of use class.
But planners said there is “ambiguity” in the stated use and that the change would “not benefit from permitted development rights” and would “require planning permission”.
Planners added that the proposed use and development would not be classed as permitted development because insufficient information has been submitted.
The application included “no information regarding the height of the extension” or the materials it will be constructed with, the planners said, while there were inconsistencies with the submitted measurements.
The applicant has been told that they have a right to appeal if they are aggrieved by the decision.
