Turning a Warrington family home into a small HMO needs planning permission from today, across the whole borough. Comments on the wider rule close 19 October.

From today, anyone in Warrington who wants to turn a family home into a small shared house needs planning permission first. Until now, most of the borough allowed it without asking the council.

Warrington Borough Council announced on Friday 25 September that two Article 4 Directions had come into force. Between them they cover the whole borough.

What has changed

A small house in multiple occupation (HMO) is a home shared by three to six unrelated people who share a kitchen or bathroom. National planning rules treat converting a house into one as permitted development. That means no planning application is needed, unless a council removes the right with an Article 4 Direction. Homes for seven or more people already needed permission.

Warrington has now removed that right in two stages:

Area How it came in Status
Six central wards Approved by Cabinet in September 2025, with 12 months’ notice In force from 25 September 2026
Rest of the borough Made with immediate effect In force from 25 September 2026, open for comments until 19 October

The six central wards are:

  • Orford
  • Poplars and Hulme
  • Fairfield and Howley
  • Latchford East
  • Latchford West
  • Bewsey and Whitecross

The second direction covers everywhere else, including Lymm, Stockton Heath, Great Sankey, Birchwood and Culcheth. The council’s own HMO planning guidance says it was brought in so HMOs “are not displaced to other areas of the Borough” once the central wards were closed to them.

How applications will be judged

The council adopted a supplementary planning document (SPD) on HMOs earlier this year. It is now the rulebook for every new application. The main tests are:

  • The 10% rule. Permission will not be granted where HMOs already make up more than 10% of the homes within 50 metres of the application site.
  • No sandwiching. A proposal that would leave an ordinary family home with an HMO on both sides “will not normally be permitted”.
  • Room sizes. HMOs must meet the space standards in the council’s landlord guidance, and a planning condition will cap how many people can live there.
  • Parking and bins. Outside the town centre, applicants are expected to provide parking within the property where they can, and must set out their plans for parking, cycle storage and waste.

The same tests apply to an existing HMO that wants to take in more residents.

Cllr John Kerr-Brown, the cabinet member for environment, housing and public protection, said: “Requiring planning permission for HMO conversions means we can carefully consider their impact before decisions are made, helping us strike the right balance between providing housing options and protecting the character of our neighbourhoods.”

What it means for you

If you live near a proposed HMO, a conversion anywhere in the borough will now appear as a planning application. You can see it and object to it like any other. Our Warrington planning news page explains how to find applications near you.

If you are a landlord or investor, a conversion that did not need permission last week now does. The council’s guidance applies the 10% test to new HMOs and to existing HMOs that want to add residents, so check the concentration around a property before you buy it for that purpose.

If you want to comment on the borough-wide direction, you have until 19 October 2026. Email localplan@warrington.gov.uk with “HMO consultation” as the subject line. You can also write to Planning Policy and Programmes (HMO Consultation), Warrington Borough Council, East Annexe, Town Hall, Sankey Street, Warrington WA1 1UH.

The council says it will publish a further notice by 25 March 2027 saying whether it has confirmed the borough-wide direction permanently.

This is separate from the council’s new fines for landlords, which cover how rented homes are run rather than whether they can be created.