Neighbours unable to stop HMO conversion getting the green light

Local opposition to a new HMO in Llanbradach has failed to persuade council planners to reject the proposal.

Applicant Cejay Leitis has won planning permission from Caerphilly County Borough Council to convert the property, at 16 Lewis Terrace, into a HMO (house in multiple occupation) for five people.

HMOs are typically properties where individual, unrelated adults have their own private bedrooms but share other areas such as kitchens, bathrooms or living rooms.

The Lewis Terrace property is currently a four-bedroom house.

Five neighbours objected to the proposed conversion during a recent public consultation, raising concerns about “increased littering and noise”, as well as a “lack of parking locally to serve existing residents”.

They said it would be “preferable and desirable” to keep the house as a “single-family home in keeping with other properties” nearby and “contributing to a sense of community” within Llanbradach.

The residents also objected with claims that “problems relating to refuse in [the] area” could be “exacerbated” by the HMO.

Local community council clerk Ceri Mortimer also raised concerns about the HMO proposal, including an already “unacceptable” supply of off-road parking, and worries about “frequent comings and goings from tenants”.

Caerphilly Council planners accepted the use of HMOs can be “more intensive than single household use”, and acknowledged “concerns can arise with the management of HMOs because of the transient nature of many tenancies”.

Consequently, planning departments, including Caerphilly Council’s, often place limits on the amount of HMOs they allow in each neighbourhood.

But the officers in this case said the addition of another HMO to Llanbradach – where there are reportedly three others – is “considerably less” than the maximum the council would allow.

The planners also judged the conversion of the Lewis Terrace house would not “significantly change the immediate character of Llanbradach or detrimentally impact the current levels of amenity received by the neighbouring occupiers”.

Documents show any building work at the property will be internal, and the rear of the house will remain a “communal amenity space” which also includes a bin storage area.

Caerphilly Council granted planning permission for the conversion, subject to conditions.