Issue - meetings

To consider a Certificate of Lawfulness for (Existing Use) for the use of the property as 6-bed House of Multiple Occupation (Use Class C4).

That the Certificate of Lawfulness is approved subject to the following condition:

On the balance of probabilities the evidence that had been provided has demonstrated that No.127 Ripon Road was operating as a C4 House of Multiple Occupation prior to 20 September 2017 when the Council’s Article 4 Direction came into force, and is, therefore a lawful use that is exempt from enforcement action.

The Committee considered a report in respect of application 23/00631/CLEU for a Certificate of Lawfulness for (Existing Use) for the use of the property at 127 Ripon Road, Stevenage, as a 6-bed House of Multiple Occupation (Use Class C4).

The application was originally submitted to the Planning and Development Committee on 3 October 2023 but following debate was deferred to enable a selection of redacted evidence documents to be shared with the Committee.  The applicant had submitted evidence of rental agreements, bank statements and property management invoices and inspections which corroborated the application and in the opinion of the Officers proved that on the balance of probabilities, the property had been in continuous use as an HMO since 2015.

The Committee was reminded by the Borough Solicitor that any debate referring to the redacted evidence documents would have to be considered in Part II of the meeting once the Press and Public had been excluded.

It was RESOLVED that the Certificate of Lawfulness is approved for the following reason:

On the balance of probabilities, the evidence that had been provided has demonstrated that No.127 Ripon Road was operating as a C4 House of Multiple Occupation prior to 20 September 2017 when the Council’s Article 4 Direction came into force, and is, therefore a lawful use that is exempt from enforcement action.