OFFICIAL COUNCIL PETITION please sign on this link if you live in the borough of Kingston-upon-Thames (any signatories outside of the borough will be discounted by the council).

 

A HMO is a 'House of Multiple Occupation.' That means a private landlord can take a normal 3-bed terrace house, designed for a single family, and convert it into 6 flats, housing up to 12 people. Kingston Council approves this and pays the landlord a rent subsidy. These are popping up all over the place here because there is no regulation compared to other London boroughs - and landlords are really exploiting this. The council don't need to consult with any of the neighbours, and they can put as many as they want in your street. 

Kingston-upon-Thames is among the least regulated areas in London for HMO development. If you're comparing it to boroughs like Brent, Newham, or Haringey, the difference is stark:

• No planning hurdles
• No licensing for small HMOs
• No policies to prevent a whole street becoming HMOs
• This makes Kingston-upon-Thames much more accessible to landlords and developers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Here's an article written for property developers pointing them towards all the areas in London with no regulation).

The experience of living near an HMO often includes continuous drug dealing around the property, noise at antisocial hours, fly tipping, rubbish building up and theft. Unfortunately this is based on experience and not conjecture.

There is national-level evidence to support this:

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmcomloc/50/50ii56.htm

The above is written evidence to Parliament from the National HMO Lobby - submitted to the House of Commons Communities & Local Government Committee - clearly states that high concentrations of HMOs are associated with:

• Antisocial behaviour (noise, public drunkenness, vandalism)
• Drug dealing and burglary
• Environmental issues like litter, fly-tipping, rodent infestation, and property blight

It's not just the impact on the community that is the issue. HMOs also come with the below consequences:

Housing and Infrastructure Issues:

● Overcrowding
● Parking pressure
● Wear and tear - rundown, deteriorated housing

Economic Consequences:

● HMOs make housing more expensive for families (less stock, as houses are bought up by HMO landlords)

● HMOs push rent prices up because landlords of family homes benchmark against HMO yields (which are higher)

 

The council are free to grant as many of these licences as they like in our area, and the smaller ones don't even need to be declared by a landlord. The council are not required to notify any of the neighbours, consider 'clustering', percentage thresholds or spatial restrictions like other areas have made provision for. What that means is that HMOs could end up dominating our borough, changing the face of our community permanently. There is no 'Article 4' direction like other areas have, so we can't even track all of them and enforce standards because the conversation of a family home to an HMO under a certain size doesn't even need a licence. 

If HMOs infiltrate our borough it will permanently change the area for the worse and it will be extremely difficult to reverse the damage. HMO landlords don't care about our community or contributing to it. Just find one near to you, look at the state of it and imagine the whole borough populated with houses like this. If you own property in the area you should be especially worried about what could happen to your investment.

We need to act now before it comes to this.

We deserve tighter regulation and reassurance from the council that they will respect the balance of our community and limit the amount of HMOs we bear - ensuring they are evenly spread out across South West London - not shove them all into Kingston-upon-Thames because it's the path of least resistance.

Standards required:

1. Regulation: Article 4 Direction
2. 10% threshold within 50m of the application property.
3. No more than two adjacent HMOs in a row.
4. No ‘sandwiching’ resulting in a non-HMO dwelling being located between two HMOs.
5. Landlord accountability for problem HMOs:
    a. Landlord to keep a log of ASB complaints and the action taken. Failure to manage ASB is a licence breach, which can lead to fines or licence revocation.
    b. Ensure the property does not cause a detrimental impact on the street scene or local amenity. Failure to comply may result in enforcement action, including fixed penalties, civil fines, or revocation of the HMO
licence.

If you agree with this and you want to protect our home, please sign the petition:

https://kingston.moderngov.co.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=160&RPID=118485007&HPID=118485007&$LO$=1

Also below are a list of people who could help us protect our community and prevent this from happening:

 

Cllr Mariana Goncalves (LibDem)
📱 07826 807 385
✉️ Mariana.Goncalves@kingston.gov.uk
(Guildhall, High St, Kingston KT1 1EU) kingston.moderngov.co.uk+11kingstonlibdems.org.uk+11chessingtondra.org.uk+11www.kingston.gov.uk+9chessingtondra.org.uk+9www.kingston.gov.uk+9
**Cllr Thay Thayalan (LibDem)**
📱 07741 283136
✉️ Thay.Thayalan@kingston.gov.uk
(Guildhall, High St, Kingston KT1 1EU) opencouncil.network+7kingston.moderngov.co.uk+7kingstonlibdems.org.uk+7
**Cllr Andrew Wooldridge (LibDem)**
📱 07517 113649
✉️ Andrew.Wooldridge@kingston.gov.uk

**Cllr Emily Davey – Portfolio Holder for Housing**
✉️ Emily.Davey@kingston.gov.uk
📞 07810 477086 kingston.moderngov.co.uk+15moderngov.kingston.gov.uk+15kingston.moderngov.co.uk+15
Cllr Andreas Kirsch – Leader of the Council & Portfolio Holder for Heritage & Culture
📞 07497 627454
✉️ Andreas.Kirsch@kingston.gov.uk

**Democratic Services / Petition Submissions**
✉️ democratic.support@rbk.kingston.gov.uk
☎️ 020 8547 5020
(Guildhall, High Street, KT1 1EU) opencouncil.network+2ukpol.co.uk+2kingston.homeconnections.org.uk+2www.kingston.gov.uk+12thelawpages.com+12moderngov.kingston.gov.uk+12
**Housing & Planning Enquiries**
Housing Contact Centre: ☎️ 020 8547 5003
Planning (Development Management): Guildhall 2, KT1 1EU