Kingston HMO controls could remove the automatic planning route for new small shared houses throughout the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The council announced on 10 November 2026 that it wants to make an immediate, borough-wide Article 4 Direction. Councillors are due to consider the proposal on 18 November. This is a proposal awaiting committee approval, not an Article 4 Direction already in force.
The measure would target the normal permitted development route from a Class C3 dwellinghouse to a Class C4 house in multiple occupation (HMO). If the Direction is subsequently made and becomes operative, a relevant future conversion would normally need express planning permission. The council envisages making it in early 2027, but it has not published an exact operative date.
For anyone buying or converting a property, I think the timing matters as much as the policy. Kingston HMO controls would be introduced through an immediate Direction, rather than a restriction announced now with a fixed twelve-month lead-in. Anyone considering a purchase or refurbishment will need to check the actual executed Direction and notice, rather than assume that publication of a committee report has already changed the property’s rights.
Kingston HMO controls go to committee on 18 November
Kingston’s official announcement says the Place Committee will consider whether to introduce borough-wide planning controls on Wednesday 18 November 2026. The published committee agenda describes the purpose of the report as seeking approval to make an immediate Direction removing the C3-to-C4 permitted development right. The officers’ committee report sets out the evidence and recommendations. Councillors have not yet approved them.
Kingston HMO controls are therefore at an earlier stage than a made or confirmed Article 4 Direction. The council must first decide whether to proceed, complete the necessary formal process and publish the operative notices. The council proposes an early-2027 making date, followed by statutory consultation and confirmation within six months. Until an actual Direction is made and operative, the newly proposed borough-wide restriction does not apply merely because it appears in the agenda.
The report identifies around 1,900 known or predicted HMOs across the borough, including concentrations in Kingston Town, Norbiton, and St Mark’s and Seething Wells. It says the licensing register recorded 453 licensed HMOs in August 2026. The two figures measure different things: the wider figure includes predictions, and the difference does not mean every other property is an unlicensed HMO.
Officers point to housing conditions, noise and waste among the issues considered, while acknowledging that their data do not establish that HMO use caused every recorded problem. I would also distinguish the borough-wide evidence from the merits of an individual application, which would still need its own assessment.
What would an immediate Article 4 Direction change?
In England, the existing national permitted development framework can allow a dwellinghouse in Use Class C3 to change to a small HMO in Class C4 without an ordinary planning application, where the relevant requirements are met and the right has not already been withdrawn. A larger HMO accommodating more than six unrelated occupiers is normally outside Class C4. The proposal is directed at the C3-to-C4 route, not at redefining every rented property as an HMO.
The distinction matters because an Article 4 Direction removes a specified permission granted by the General Permitted Development Order. It does not itself prohibit the resulting use. Once a correctly made Direction is operative, an owner seeking the affected development can apply for planning permission and the authority considers the merits. Planning Geek explains that distinction in its Article 4 guide and its Use Class C4 guidance.
Kingston HMO controls would also not, merely by taking effect, make established lawful small HMOs unlawful. The relevant questions for an existing property include when its use commenced, whether that use was lawful, how many occupiers it accommodated and whether there are earlier conditions or restrictions. A current licensing record may be useful evidence, but HMO licensing and planning lawfulness answer different questions. Buyers should not substitute one for the other.
Why Kingston wants more control over HMOs
Councillor Andrew Wooldridge, the portfolio holder responsible for planning policy, said in the council announcement that shared housing is a valued part of Kingston’s housing mix
. The council nonetheless wants to be able to scrutinise the quality, number and location of new HMOs. Its policy argument is about managing competing housing needs, rather than declaring that all shared accommodation is harmful.
Kingston’s published concerns cover the loss of family housing alongside noise, waste and other neighbourhood issues. These are the council’s stated reasons for taking the proposal forward. They do not demonstrate that every proposed HMO causes such impacts or that planning applications will necessarily be refused. An Article 4 Direction brings the decision into the development management system; it does not predetermine the outcome.
The report says emerging Local Plan policy KH6 proposes a 10% threshold within 100 metres, controls on properties being sandwiched between HMOs and a maximum of two adjoining HMOs. These proposals remain subject to examination and adoption. If a Direction is made first, applications would be assessed against the adopted development plan and other relevant considerations. I would check the policy position at the time of any application.
Dates, risks and evidence for property investors
The decisive timetable has three separate stages. First, the Place Committee considers approval to make the Direction on 18 November. Secondly, if the proposal proceeds, officers intend to make it in early 2027, with an immediate effect from the relevant making and notice process. Thirdly, the report proposes six weeks for representations, followed by a decision on confirmation within six months. If the immediate Direction is made but not confirmed, it would lapse at the end of that period. The final dates and coverage must be checked against official notices when they appear.
For a pending purchase or planned letting conversion, Kingston HMO controls create a practical due-diligence issue even before they become operative. A purchaser should establish the property’s existing lawful use, identify the intended number of residents, examine planning conditions and Article 4 history, and allow for the possibility that express permission may be necessary by the time the proposed use starts. The intended use and the relevant date matter more than the date a contractor was booked.
Immediate directions can also raise questions about compensation where a formerly available permitted development right is withdrawn and a later planning application is refused or made subject to more restrictive conditions. Such rights depend on specific statutory conditions, qualifying development, timing and evidenced loss. No one should assume that the Kingston proposal creates an automatic compensation entitlement or that a particular claim will succeed. Officers say no compensation claims were identified in the boroughs they contacted, but acknowledge that Kingston’s potential liability is uncertain. Those issues require separate property-specific examination and the final Direction documents.
What happens next for Kingston HMO controls?
For now the clear, verified milestone is the publication of the council’s 10 November proposal for the 18 November Place Committee meeting. There is no verified operative borough-wide Direction arising from that proposal yet. If councillors authorise the next stage, the executed Direction, map, notice and consultation arrangements will establish what land and development are covered and when the restriction starts.
Anyone making investment decisions should distinguish the council’s intended policy from the legal position in force on the date of a proposed change of use. Planning Geek will need to assess the committee resolution and any subsequently made Direction on their own terms. Until then, Kingston HMO controls remain a significant potential change for Kingston’s shared housing market, not a new planning permission requirement already imposed across the borough.
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