🚨 UPDATE – 11 September 2025 🚨

Elsewhere in the country, councils are already moving to require all HMOs to go through full planning permission by using Article 4 Directions. In Ashfield and Bassetlaw, councillors (backed by MPs) have acted decisively to protect their communities from uncontrolled HMO conversions.

If they can, then so can Medway.

We cannot sit back while developers exploit loopholes here. Medway deserves the same protection — every HMO must be subject to full public scrutiny through the planning system.

Please, help us make our voices impossible to ignore:

Sign and share this petition far and wide.
Encourage neighbours, family, and local groups to get involved.

Together we can show Medway Council that our community demands action now.

This petition calls on Medway Council to adopt what’s known as Rule 4 (an Article 4 Direction).

In short:

Rule 4 would remove automatic permitted development rights for small HMO conversions (where a single-family house is turned into a shared house for 3–6 unrelated people), meaning all future proposals would need full planning permission and be open to public consultation. Crucially, it will allow you to have a say and actually make it count.

We believe this is a vital step to ensure that changes affecting local streets and communities are handled transparently and fairly, with residents and councillors given the opportunity to assess and comment on proposed developments.

All the detail is explained below.

Many thanks for signing this petition!

Section One: What This Petition Is About (Plain, Easy-to-Understand Overview)

Medway Council currently operates under its 2003 Local Plan, which is over 20 years old and does not reflect today’s housing pressures or trends.

A draft Local Plan (Regulation 18) was launched for consultation on 26 June 2025, addressing housing delivery up to 2041. This draft acknowledges poor‑quality housing from permitted development conversions, but makes no mention—zero—of adopting an Article 4 Direction (commonly known as “Rule 4”) to require planning applications for small HMO conversions  .

In contrast, other councils—such as Eastbourne, Lewisham, and Sutton—have already adopted Rule 4 to ensure that family homes cannot be converted into shared houses (HMOs) without proper planning scrutiny. They took this step because HMO conversions were impacting housing mix, parking, waste collection, and local amenity  .

This petition asks Medway Council to follow suit: to introduce Rule 4 so that all future HMO conversions (C3 to C4)are subject to full planning permission, ensuring consultation, transparency, and appropriate assessment, rather than taking place in a legal blind spot with no public oversight.

Section Two: How This Happens — And What You Can Do

A typical three-bedroom home (a C3 dwelling house) in Medway can currently be converted into a small HMO (C4 use)—housing 3 to 6 unrelated people sharing amenities—without applying for planning permission. Instead, the owner applies for a Lawful Development Certificate (LDC).

Crucially, LDC applications do not require notifying neighbours or public consultation. The change can occur quietly—and you might only become aware after it has taken effect, with limited ability to respond.

In the meantime—and as well as signing this petition—you can empower yourself and your neighbours:

Create a free account on the Medway Planning Portal
Save a search for your street or postcode area
You will then receive email alerts whenever any planning application or LDC is submitted for your area
 

While an LDC itself does not trigger a consultation, alerts give you early notice—and if a planning application is submitted, you will have a time-limited chance to log your comments or objections. This is a way to preserve your democratic right to have a say about local changes—right now.

Section Three: Planning Background, New Plan’s Gaps, and Why Rule 4 Must Be Adopted

Legal Framework

The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 defines:

C3 dwelling house: family or household home (up to 6 living as one unit)
C4 HMO: 3 to 6 unrelated individuals sharing basic facilities
 
Under the GPDO 2015, changing from C3 to C4 is a permitted development—meaning no planning permission is needed—unless the local authority withdraws that right via an Article 4 Direction.
Property owners can apply for a Lawful Development Certificate (LDC, under Section 192 of TCPA 1990) to confirm that use is lawful under permitted development. LDCs are administrative, without neighbour consultation or planning judgement.
 
Article 4 Direction explained

An Article 4 Direction (commonly called “Rule 4” in HMO policy discussions) allows a council to withdraw permitted development rights in specific areas or borough-wide, making C3-to-C4 conversion subject to standard planning application and consultation processes  .
It does not ban HMOs—it only ensures each case is assessed properly under local and national policy.
 
Councils that have adopted Rule 4 and why

Lewisham Council introduced a non-immediate borough-wide Article 4 Direction, effective from 30 September 2023, citing over‑concentration of HMOs, need for better management standards, and alignment with licensing schemes  .
Eastbourne Borough Council adopted Rule 4 in July 2024 following HMO impact studies showing concerns around housing mix, parking, waste management, and neighbour amenity  .
Sutton Council implemented Article 4 in 2023 to preserve local character, maintain housing diversity, and require consultation over HMO proposals  .
Ealing Council, in London, also prepared reports recommending borough-wide Article 4 to manage small HMOs and preserve amenity, waste control, and housing quality  .
 
Medway’s Local Plan context

The current Medway Local Plan is from 2003—now deeply outdated.
The new draft Local Plan (Regulation 18), published June 2025, aims to address housing up to 2041 and notes poor outcomes from conversions allowed under permitted development  .
But critically, the draft Local Plan contains no mention, even in passing, of adopting an Article 4 Direction to manage small HMOs—suggesting Rule 4 is not yet on Medway’s policy agenda  .
 
Why Medway needs Rule 4 now

Without Article 4 in place, small HMOs continue to be established via LDCs with no planning scrutiny, consultation, or ability to impose location‑specific conditions.
This undermines the aims of Policy H7 in Medway’s Local Plan, which calls for avoiding over-concentration of non-family accommodation and protecting local amenity.
Until the new Local Plan is adopted—possibly late 2026—Medway will rely on its 2003 policy framework, which lacks consideration of modern housing pressures and provides no mechanism to require planning for small HMO conversions.
 
In short, this petition does not oppose HMOs per se. It asks Medway Council to adopt the widely-used and evidence-based Article 4 Direction (“Rule 4”), as other councils have already done, to ensure all future small HMO conversions in Medway go through full planning procedure, with consultation, assessment, and alignment with 21st-century planning standards.