Retrospective plans to convert Eastbourne home into HMO refused

The submitted application was to retrospectively change 25 Annington Road from a house into an eight-bed HMO.

The application was refused by Eastbourne Borough Council due to the HMO ‘providing a substandard level of accommodation for occupiers of the property’.

The statement of refusal read: “The plans show that bedroom one is en-suite, but the rest of the remaining seven bedrooms share a small shower room located on the first floor of the property.

“Outlook from bedrooms two, three and four is limited due to the narrow area of the rear garden they look out onto and if occupants are using the rear garden area, the privacy of bedroom two, three, four and five can be easily impacted upon.

“The main access to the property from the street is to the front of the building, where current refuse and recycling storage is provided. The floor plans have been annotated to say that bike storage would be provided outside of the window of bedroom two which would further impact upon the occupiers of bedrooms two, three and four.

“The change of use to a large HMO provides a substandard level of accommodation for occupiers of the property and is contrary to national and local planning policies and the application is therefore recommended for refusal.”

Four objections were also submitted into Eastbourne Borough Council’s planning portal regarding the application.