London Borough of Brent v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities & Anor [2022] EWHC 2051 (Admin)
Brent C4 HMO permitted development is an important High Court judgment confirming that a genuine Use Class C4 HMO can be a dwellinghouse for the purposes of Part 1 householder permitted development rights.
The court rejected the council’s attempt to import the single-household concept from C3 into C4.
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- Neutral citation
- [2022] EWHC 2051 (Admin)
- Court
- High Court, Queen's Bench Division, Administrative Court
- Judgment date
- 29th July 2022
- Judge
- Robert Palmer QC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge
- Case number
- CO/3240/2021
What Brent decided
The case concerned 51 Nutfield Road in Brent, where an enforcement notice challenged a rear extension associated with an HMO use.
The Inspector concluded that the property was a C4 HMO and that the extension could benefit from householder permitted development rights. Brent challenged that conclusion in the High Court.
Robert Palmer QC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, dismissed the council’s claim.
A C4 HMO can still be a dwellinghouse
The GPDO grants many Part 1 rights to a dwellinghouse. Brent argued that an HMO could not qualify unless occupation was sufficiently similar to a single household.
The court rejected that approach. C4 expressly describes use of a dwellinghouse by three to six residents as an HMO. A genuine C4 use therefore remains a dwellinghouse unless a specific exclusion in the GPDO applies.
Do not import the C3 test into C4
The concept of living together as a single household belongs to the wording of C3. It is not an additional legal requirement for C4.
The practical question is whether the building retains the physical and functional characteristics of a dwellinghouse used for day-to-day private domestic existence.
This is consistent with the wider dwellinghouse authorities and is particularly useful when considering modest extensions or alterations to established HMOs.
Not every HMO automatically gets Part 1 rights
The judgment does not mean every form of HMO is a dwellinghouse for GPDO purposes. Some HMOs are created by conversion into self-contained flats or fall outside C4 altogether.
The actual planning use and physical arrangement still matter. Planning Geek’s guide to proving a lawful HMO explains the wider planning-status questions.
The Inspector did not have to invent issues
Brent also argued that the Inspector should have drawn conclusions from matters observed on the site visit which had not formed part of the case advanced by the parties.
The court rejected that criticism. Inspectors must determine the issues properly before them; they are not generally required to construct a new adverse case from matters nobody has raised.
Why Brent matters
The case is useful wherever an LPA assumes that the words HMO and dwellinghouse are mutually exclusive.
A C4 HMO can remain a dwellinghouse, and Part 1 rights should be tested against the actual GPDO wording rather than ruled out simply because more than one household occupies the property.
Read the full Brent judgment
The full High Court judgment is held in the Planning Geek case law library. Gold Members can open the protected PDF below.
Brent C4 HMO Case Law Page Updated: 10th September 2026