Redevelopment case study on Harriet Street in Cathays

The Property

This terraced Cathays house was being let as a traditional five-bedroom student house, consisting of two bedrooms at the front of the ground-floor, leading onto a lounge and a small kitchen. On the first-floor were three bedrooms and the property’s only bathroom.

The Plan

The idea was to create an eight-bedroom student house with a more modern, open-plan living, kitchen and dining area. It was important to keep the bedrooms both equal in size and suitable for double beds in order to maintain the property’s appeal in the Cardiff student market.

With Cathays being designated an additional HMO licensing area by Cardiff Council (extended for a further five years in 2016), the renovations would have to meet the amenity standards put in place by the local authority in order to be granted a HMO licence. For more insightful information on this subject, please visit our dedicated HMO section.

The Project

Creating more space required a single-storey rear extension to the house, as well as a rear dormer roof extension to allow a third-floor to be created within the attic space. Whilst this required managing quite extensive building works, the area of greater concern involved the consent for the renovations due to Welsh Government’s introduction of new planning classifications, which directly affected the buy-to-let market in the area of Cathays.

The local authority wishes to restrict the density of HMOs in Cathays and Plasnewydd to 20%, and to 10% in all other wards, so now consider applications on the density of HMOs within a 50m radius of the property - e.g.: for a previously owner-occupied property in Cathays wishing to obtain ‘HMO sui generis’ (7+ tenants) or C4 classification (3-6 tenants), it will only be granted if no more than 20% of the properties within a 50m radius are already HMOs.

As such, the application to convert the property into an eight-bed let was initially refused, but upon appeal to the Welsh Government was allowed.

* Changes in planning classification

The changes saw the introduction of the new C4 planning classification, which encompasses 3-6 tenants. Properties which already had 3+ tenants in place by 25th February 2016 automatically received implied C4 classification (or ‘HMO sui generis’ classification for 7+ tenants), but landlords intending to develop and in doing so move from one classification to another now need to submit a change of use application, which Cardiff Council adjudge using new HMO supplementary planning guidance.

If you’re an investor looking for your next property or require advice on how to get the best returns on a recent purchase, we can help. Whether it’s how to meet local housing regulations or how to redevelop in order to meet tenant demand, please call us on 02920 668585 or e-mail Rhys at rhys.owen@cpshomes.co.uk.