61 Hearns Road, ORPINGTON, BR5 3NF

the material change of use of a single dwellinghouse (Class C3) to a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) (Class C4)

Authority: London Borough of Bromley
Appeal type: enforcement · Enforcement Notice
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: residential · Change of use
Inspector: Jones D

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the matters alleged in the notice constitute a breach of planning control, in particular whether the material change of use of the properties from Class C3 to Class C4 HMO occurred before the Council's Article 4 Direction removing permitted development rights took effect on 1 September 2022

What decided it

Whether, on the balance of probabilities, the material change of use to HMO use had occurred before the Council's Article 4 Direction took effect on 1 September 2022.

Judgments cited: Impey v Secretary of State for the Environment (1984) 47 P & CR 157; Gravesham BC v Secretary of State for the Environment (1984) 47 P & CR 142

Read the decision letter on the Inspectorate’s site

The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.

Town Planner Pro

What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.
- Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
- Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
- Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
- Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.
Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.
Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.
Casework that chases the deadlines. Applications, appeals and conditions with their statutory dates.
The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.

Join the waiting list

In the app this decision sits on the map beside every other appeal around it, with the full reasoning summary, the letter held on file, and the case law it applies.