Stockport Council has approved moving ahead with an immediate borough-wide HMO Article 4 Direction which will remove the permitted development right for changing a dwellinghouse in Use Class C3 to a small HMO in Use Class C4.
Cabinet took the decision on 15th September 2026, following consideration by the Housing, Economy & Environment Scrutiny Committee on 3rd September.
The decision is important, but it does not mean 15th September was automatically the legal cut-off for using Class L(b). Stockport’s own report envisaged officers drafting and making the Direction following Cabinet approval, followed by the statutory notice procedure. As at 16th September 2026, the executed Direction, notice and operative date had not yet been published.
Once the Direction takes effect, a new C3 to C4 change within Stockport will normally require express planning permission. Existing lawful C4 HMOs are not made unlawful simply because the Article 4 Direction comes into force.
Cabinet approves borough-wide HMO controls
Stockport’s Cabinet considered the HMO Article 4 report on 15th September 2026 and approved proceeding with the immediate borough-wide Direction. The council’s official Cabinet webcast records the item and decision.
The officer report had asked Cabinet to decide whether to approve the making of an immediate Article 4 Direction across the whole administrative borough and to authorise the relevant officers to issue the Direction and associated notices.
That distinction matters. Cabinet has approved the making of the Direction, but the planning restriction does not arise merely because the meeting took place. The Direction must be made and the statutory notice requirements completed before its operative date can be established.
What the Stockport Article 4 Direction will change
The permitted development right being removed is Part 3 Class L(b) of the GPDO. It allows a dwellinghouse in Use Class C3 to change to a small house in multiple occupation in Use Class C4, subject to the terms of the Order.
Once the Article 4 Direction becomes operative, that national deemed planning permission will no longer be available within the land covered by the Direction. A new C3 to C4 change will normally need an express planning application.
This is not a ban on HMOs. Stockport will instead be able to decide C3 to C4 proposals through the normal planning application process. The Direction also does not retrospectively make an existing lawful C4 use unlawful.
When will the Stockport HMO Article 4 Direction take effect?
For an immediate Direction affecting Part 3 permitted development, Schedule 3 of the GPDO sets the procedure. Stockport must make the Direction and then carry out the required publicity and notification.
The council’s report says that, once authorised, officers would draft the immediate Direction, make it and give notice as soon as practicable. The statutory notice must specify the date on which the Direction comes into force.
For a borough-wide Direction, serving notice on every owner and occupier is likely to be impracticable. Schedule 3 contains specific rules for when an immediate Direction takes effect where notice is published or displayed rather than individually served.
So the sequence is:
- Scrutiny considered the proposal on 3rd September 2026
- Cabinet approved the making of the immediate borough-wide Direction on 15th September 2026
- Officers must make the Direction under the authority given
- The statutory notice and publicity requirements must be carried out
- The operative date follows the Schedule 3 procedure and must be stated in the notice
As at 16th September 2026, Stockport had not published the executed Direction or statutory notice. It would therefore be wrong to treat 15th September as an invented legal cut-off date.
Why Stockport chose borough-wide control
Stockport’s evidence says the number of known HMOs has increased substantially over the past decade. Officers also point to concerns about concentrations of HMOs, the loss of family housing, parking pressure, waste storage, noise and residential amenity.
The council considered a more limited geographical Direction but rejected that option. Its concern is that concentrating controls only in today’s HMO hotspots could displace future conversions into other neighbourhoods.
The Greater Manchester context also influenced the recommendation. Stockport’s report says the other Greater Manchester authorities either already have HMO Article 4 controls or, in Rochdale’s case, have a Direction due to come into effect. Officers were concerned that Stockport could otherwise become more attractive for C3 to C4 conversions carried out under permitted development rights.
Government policy expects Article 4 Directions to be supported by robust evidence and limited to the smallest geographical area necessary. Stockport is relying on its borough-wide evidence and the risk of displacement to justify extending the control across the whole borough.
Why Stockport chose an immediate Direction
A non-immediate Direction can give owners a long period of notice before a permitted development right is withdrawn. That can reduce compensation exposure, but it also leaves the right available during the notice period.
Stockport’s officers advised that a delayed route could prompt a surge in C3 to C4 changes before the restriction took effect. Cabinet has now accepted the recommendation to use the immediate procedure.
The consequence is that the window between the Direction being made and the permitted development right being removed could be very short. It also brings potential compensation implications for the council.
Already converting a property? Building work is not the same as changing the use
An immediate Article 4 Direction can catch a project part-way through. A landlord may have builders on site, fire doors fitted and rooms being decorated, yet the property may still be in C3 planning use.
The key planning question is whether the material change of use to C4 has actually occurred before the Direction becomes operative. Works carried out in preparation for HMO occupation can be evidence of intention, but intention is not the same thing as the new use having begun.
Depending on the facts, useful contemporaneous evidence can include:
- Who was actually occupying the property and from what date
- How many occupiers there were and whether they formed more than one household
- Tenancy or licence agreements and rent or deposit records
- How bedrooms, kitchens and shared facilities were furnished and being used
- Dated photographs and utility records
- Council tax, electoral or other council records where relevant
- HMO licensing material as supporting evidence, while remembering that licensing and planning are separate regimes
There is no sensible shortcut through sham occupation or paperwork created merely to beat an Article 4 deadline. The planning question is what the building was actually being used for at the relevant time.
If a genuine lawful C4 use started before the Direction became operative, a Certificate of Lawfulness for an existing use may later be valuable evidence of that position.
Article 4 compensation is possible, but it is not automatic
The compensation rules are often reduced to the phrase “immediate Article 4 means compensation”. That is too crude.
Under section 108 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Town and Country Planning (Compensation) (England) Regulations 2015, Class L is prescribed development for the compensation regime.
Potential compensation normally depends on a subsequent qualifying planning application being refused, or granted subject to conditions more restrictive than the withdrawn permitted development right. For a short-notice or immediate Direction, the relevant planning application generally needs to be made within 12 months beginning with the date the Direction takes effect.
The compensable heads are limited. They can include abortive expenditure and other loss or damage directly attributable to the withdrawal and the later planning decision. A Direction does not create an automatic payment simply because a property might be worth less or a landlord had hoped to convert it.
The 12-month period above is the window for making the qualifying planning application, not the deadline for serving the compensation claim itself. Regulation 12 of the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992 normally requires the later compensation claim to be made in writing and served within 12 months of the planning decision to which the claim relates, unless the Secretary of State allows longer.
Stockport’s report acknowledges potential compensation liability but says it cannot currently be quantified. Our guide to Article 4 compensation explains the mechanism in more detail.
What should Stockport landlords, buyers and agents do now?
- Do not assume 15th September was automatically the legal cut-off for Class L(b)
- Check for the executed Direction, statutory notice, map and stated operative date
- If a genuine C3 to C4 change is already under way, preserve evidence of the property’s actual use rather than just its refurbishment
- If buying an existing HMO, verify its planning status as well as its licensing position
- If the timing of an existing lawful C4 use is important, consider whether a Certificate of Lawfulness would help establish it
Our guides to preparing for an incoming Article 4 Direction, buying an HMO in an Article 4 area and the national HMO Article 4 map cover the practical checks in more detail.
What happens after the Cabinet decision?
Cabinet has made the policy decision to proceed. The next documents to watch are the executed Direction, the borough-wide map, the statutory notice and the consultation material.
An immediate Direction must still go through the statutory consultation and confirmation process. If it is not confirmed in accordance with Schedule 3, it will cease to have effect six months after it comes into force.
For the position as at 16th September 2026, the safest summary is: Stockport has approved the making of a borough-wide immediate HMO Article 4 Direction, but the executed Direction and operative date had not yet been published.
Primary sources
The official Cabinet webcast for 15th September 2026 records the HMO Article 4 item. The council’s officer report and evidence appendix formed the basis of the decision. The legal procedure is in Schedule 3 of the GPDO 2015, with compensation governed principally by section 108 TCPA 1990 and the 2015 Compensation Regulations.
A previous version of this story was published before the Cabinet meeting. We substantially updated the article on 16th September 2026 to reflect Cabinet’s decision.
Published: 16th September 2026 | Stockport HMO Article 4
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