Council urged to stop 'uncontrolled transformation'
GoogleA petition is calling on a council to stop the "uncontrolled transformation" of a neighbourhood.
Residents of Greenbank Road in Darlington want measures to be put in place to stop landlords turning properties into houses of multiple occupation (HMOs).
"Darlington Borough Council has lost control of the HMO situation in our neighbourhood," a letter to residents said.
The authority said it was looking into measures it could implement to address the concerns.
There are about 400 HMOs in Darlington, according to the council.
HMOs are used by residents, often students or young professionals, who rent their bedrooms and share living facilities.
'Unknown scale'
Current rules mean that planning permission for an HMO is only needed when it will house more than five people.
Specific measures – called an Article Four direction – can be implemented to require the landlord to seek permission for smaller HMOs.
The Greenbank Road residents' petition said the council had "no way" of knowing how many houses had already been turned into HMOs and called for the Article Four direction to be made in their area.
"[The council] cannot make reasonable planning decisions by assessing the impact of new, large HMOs on our local streets if they don't know the scale of the local problem," it said.
A spokesman at Darlington Borough Council said HMOs provided "a valuable contribution to housing provision for people who could not access the housing market through home ownership or rental.
They added: "We also recognise that a concentration of unregulated HMOs can cause issues for neighbouring residents."
The authority said while its own policies provided guidance for considering applications for larger HMOs, it did not cover those with fewer than five occupants.
"We have been working hard to look into measures, such as an Article Four direction, that can be introduced at the earliest opportunity to help control those smaller HMOs."