Crawford Square residents urge council to adopt Bristol’s 10% HMO model

Colm Cavanagh, Acting Secretary of the Crawford Square Residents Association, has written to local councillors and aldermen asking them to impose a 10 per cent cap on HMOs in certain areas.

"Everyone wants Ulster University Magee Campus to grow. It is a crucial part of our city's future. But we endorse the growing concern of local residents at the constant creation of HMOs in the neighbourhood of UU Magee.

"So you may be interested in the regulations which we are advised that Bristol City Council, England, applies regarding HMOs in that city. If you consider it appropriate, we feel that a similar policy would be welcomed by local residents here,” the latter states.

In the letter Mr. Cavanagh explains that Bristol City Council has the power to define a 'locality' and subsequently impose a 10 per cent HMO cap in that area.

"The 10 per cent is calculated using a 100-metre radius drawn from the application site (by counting all the dwellings within that 100-metre radius and checking how many are already HMOs. If it's already more than 10 per cent, the new application will usually fail).

"Bristol City Council forbids ‘sandwiching’ i.e. a new HMO will not be permitted within three houses of an existing HMO,” he writes.

The Crawford Square residents believe that Section 12 of the Houses in Multiple Occupation (NI) Act 2016 ‘appears to give Derry Strabane power to introduce similar planning regulations here’.