The HMO Committee has received a response to our petition to address the issue of excessive HMO development in Potters Bar.

You can read the council's response in full here.

But to summarise, although much of the petition was accepted, the council refused to deliver on the items below:

* The implementation of an IMMEDIATE ARTICLE 4. The rate of developer activity in Potters Bar needs to be addressed with immediate effect the current timeline to implement Article 4 is not acceptable.

* Licensing on smaller HMOs of 3 - 6 people would capture attempts by developers to circumvent planning by splitting one HMO into smaller units.

We disagree with the decision not to progress the key items above and will be asking to have our petition reviewed by a wider group at a meeting of the Cabinet.

Please see the response from the Potter Bar HMO Committee below: 

'Good Morning,

Thank you for your response.

As you know, the situation in Potters Bar is becoming untenable for residents as HMO development ramps up at an increasing pace across the town.

Potters Bar already has over 56% of Hertsmere HMOs, despite having a very small population of approx. 23k.

As the developer frenzy escalates, issues around build quality, tenant and resident safety, and well-being mount. All of which I'm sure the council is well aware of.

Developers are not only submitting fraudulent planning applications en-masse to get around the permitted development loophole, but they are attempting to circumvent the process for larger HMOs (Sui Generis) by dividing up the home into flats first, which will only be addressed by introducing the licensing for HMOs in the 3-5 bracket, of which we know there are a significant number.

It is for this reason that the HMO committee would like to confirm that we are not happy with the response received from Cllr Nik Oakley and Cllr Alan Mathews, and we would like to ask that the petition be reviewed and considered more broadly.'

 We will, as always, continue to keep you updated with progress.

Thanking you for your support

Kind regards,

Potters Bar HMO Committee'