The latest update from the Enfield Local Plan examination includes welcome news on HMOs.
In a recent letter to Enfield Council, the Planning Inspector has said that Enfield’s new Local Plan must include a specific policy for Houses in Multiple Occupation, commonly known as HMOs. This is good news, and something Better Homes Enfield has been calling for.
HMOs have an important role. They can provide lower-cost rented accommodation for people who need it. But poorly converted or badly located HMOs can also cause serious problems, including overcrowding, poor living conditions, loss of family housing, pressure on parking and waste storage, and harm to the living conditions of neighbours.
Better Homes Enfield told the local plan examination in October 2025 that more than 150 HMO planning applications had been submitted between January and August 2025 alone, roughly 15 to 20 per month. We also said that it would be highly unusual for a London borough not to have a HMO planning policy, potentially making Enfield a target for HMO conversions. A year later, our analysis of planning applications shows that the number of HMO applications has increased significantly to 45 to 50 per month, with around 80% being granted.
The problem is that Enfield Council submitted its proposed Local Plan for examination without a specific HMO policy. In our view, that was a serious mistake.
Enfield already has something called a borough-wide Article 4 Direction, which means planning permission is needed to convert a family home into a small HMO. It also has HMO licensing rules. But for those tools to be effective, they must be backed up by clear planning policies. Without them, residents, councillors and planning officers are left with weaker and less certain grounds for assessing and refusing applications.
Better Homes Enfield raised this risk in our 2022 HMO research. This showed that fewer than 1 in 10 HMOs in Enfield had planning permission and there had been an 85% decline in planning enforcement. We raised it again in our 2025 article on the risks of removing HMO policies from the Local Plan, and again during the Local Plan examination. We argued that removing these policies would make Enfield more vulnerable to speculative HMO conversions and make it harder to manage the cumulative impact on local streets.
The Inspector has now accepted that an HMO policy is needed. He has said the submitted plan does not contain a specific HMO policy and that modifications are needed to plug this gap. This is a very welcome finding.
Importantly, he has asked for the policy to properly address the quality of accommodation, deal more clearly with clustering and excessive concentrations, address impacts such as overlooking as well as noise and disturbance, and be clearer about parking standards. That is the kind of practical, enforceable policy Enfield needs.
But residents should not have had to fight for this. A borough with Enfield’s housing pressures, private rented sector challenges and volume of HMO applications should never have submitted a new Local Plan without proper HMO safeguards from the outset. The fact that it did so raises serious concerns about how the previous administration managed this part of the Local Plan process.
The Inspector’s latest letter is a positive step towards Enfield getting the type of planning policies it needs to manage the impact of HMOs on neighbouring residents and local streets, protect HMO tenants, support responsible landlords and keep neighbourhoods liveable.
The next stage will be the consultation on the proposed Main Modifications. Better Homes Enfield will look closely at the final wording and continue to press for a clear, fair and enforceable HMO policy.
Enfield needs homes. It also needs decent housing standards, proper planning control and policies that reflect what is actually happening on the ground.
Better Homes Enfield 