An appeal to change a lawful Class C4 HMO in Lambeth into Class C1 short-term visitor accommodation has been dismissed, with the Inspector giving weight to the property’s continuing residential flexibility.
The decision at Selway House is particularly interesting because the flat could move from C4 to C3 residential use and, at this location, back from C3 to C4 without a planning application. The proposed C1 use would remove that two-way residential flexibility.
The appeal also failed on the absence of a town-centre sequential test, as well as concerns about noise and refuse. And it contains a short but useful reminder that Use Class C5 is a Welsh use class and does not apply in England.
C4 HMO to C1 visitor accommodation
Inspector L Clark dismissed appeal 6008038 on 7th September 2026. The property is 9 Selway House, 272 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1UL.
The application described the existing use as a Class C4 HMO. Although the appellant referred to C3 in the appeal case, there was no substantive dispute that the flat was being occupied as a small HMO and the Inspector proceeded on that basis.
The proposal was to move the flat into Class C1 for short-term visitor accommodation.
That is a planning change of use, not simply a change in how a residential tenancy is marketed. The appeal therefore had to be assessed against policies dealing with visitor accommodation, housing, neighbour amenity and servicing.
The Class L fallback mattered to the housing assessment
The most useful part of the decision concerns the relationship between C3 and C4.
The Inspector noted that there was no Article 4 restriction at this site preventing the normal permitted-development movement between the two residential uses. She therefore treated the flat as capable of changing between C4 and C3 dwellinghouse use without a planning application.
That is correctly understood through Class L. Class L(a) permits the change from C4 to C3. Class L(b) permits the return from C3 to C4, unless that particular right has been removed or restricted.
This distinction matters in Lambeth. The council’s targeted HMO Article 4 Direction hosted by Planning Geek withdraws Class L(b), C3 to C4, in Streatham Common & Vale and Streatham St Leonard’s. It does not generally withdraw Class L(a), C4 to C3.
Selway House is in Stockwell West & Larkhall, outside that targeted area. So it would be wrong to say that being outside the Article 4 area is what allows the existing C4 HMO to revert to C3. The significance is that, at this site, the property could also ordinarily move back from C3 to C4 under Class L(b).
C1 would remove that residential flexibility
The Inspector considered the physical layout and garden suitable for ordinary family occupation. The flat therefore retained value as part of the housing stock even though it was currently occupied as a small HMO.
Moving into C1 would be different. Once the property became visitor accommodation, it would no longer have the same ability to move within the C3/C4 residential framework without a further planning permission.
The Inspector therefore found that the proposal would result in the loss of housing suitable for family occupation and would conflict with the relevant housing policies.
Our analysis: this is a genuinely useful fallback point. A property’s existing use is not always the end of the housing-loss assessment. Where a lawful permitted-development route gives the property a realistic residential fallback, that flexibility can form part of the planning picture.
Why Lambeth still required a sequential test
The second major issue was the location of the proposed C1 use.
Policy ED14 of the Lambeth Local Plan 2021 supports visitor accommodation in town centres, subject to amenity and land-use considerations. Outside town centres, proposals for new visitor accommodation are assessed against the sequential test for main town-centre uses.
The appeal site was outside a town centre. No sequential assessment had been provided to demonstrate whether a suitable and available site in a sequentially preferable location could accommodate the proposal.
The Inspector therefore found conflict with Policy ED14. Lambeth’s Local Plan 2021 page confirms the adopted plan remains part of the statutory development plan.
The property’s excellent public-transport accessibility did not remove the need to carry out the policy exercise. A highly accessible out-of-centre site does not become a town-centre site simply because it has a very good PTAL rating.
Our analysis: this is the town-centre sequential test, which is completely separate from the flood-risk Sequential Test. A highly accessible out-of-centre site does not escape the locational sequence merely because public transport access is excellent.
Different occupation patterns also mattered
The Inspector also considered the likely pattern of occupation. A short-term C1 use could involve frequent turnover and groups staying together for short periods, with social activity taking place at different times from an ordinary residential occupation.
The management plan referred to by the appellant was not included with the appeal documents, so the Inspector could not be certain that there would be on-site management. She added that even if management staff were available on site 24 hours a day, planning could not reasonably control the behaviour of other people.
Refuse was another problem. The Inspector observed the existing communal bin arrangements and found evidence of overflowing bins and odour. The appellant had not provided sufficiently clear arrangements demonstrating how refuse from the C1 use would be managed, including the likely need for an appropriate commercial waste arrangement.
Cycle storage was capable of being dealt with by condition and was not a decisive reason for dismissing the appeal.
C5 is not an English use class
The appellant also referred to Use Class C5. The Inspector gave that argument little weight because C5 is a Welsh use class, not an English one.
England has considered a proposed C5 class for short-term lets, which we explain in our guide to the proposed English Use Class C5, but that does not make C5 part of the current English Use Classes Order.
It is a small point in this appeal, but a useful one as English and Welsh short-term-let controls increasingly diverge.
The Planning Geek takeaway
The strongest lesson is not simply that Lambeth resisted another short-term let. It is the way the Inspector treated the property’s lawful residential fallback.
A C4 HMO can retain real value as ordinary housing because Class L permits C4 to C3. Where the C3-to-C4 limb also remains available, as it did here, the property has additional two-way residential flexibility. A move into C1 can remove that flexibility and make the loss of residential use more significant.
The appeal also shows that a C1 proposal outside a town centre can require a proper sequential assessment even in an excellent public-transport location.
You can read the full Lambeth appeal decision 6008038 hosted by Planning Geek.
Sources: appeal decision 6008038; Lambeth Local Plan 2021 Policy ED14; Lambeth Council’s Class L(b) Article 4 Direction page; and Class L of Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the GPDO.
Created: 8th September 2026
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