Dundee licensing committee members have been warned they could be turning the west end of the city into “an HMO ghetto”.
Councillors voted narrowly to create a 16-apartment block of multiple occupancy dwellings in Roseangle.
Councillor Tom Ferguson expressed his concerns about applications by 2rentme Property Ltd to turn six flats on the ground, first and second storeys of 7 Roseangle into houses in multiple occupation.
The company already runs all eight flats at number five and two top-floor dwellings at number seven as HMOs, and spokesman Richie Hawkins said the two addresses form a detached block.
He continued: “We have already spent £250,000 upgrading the six flats at number seven. Across the two properties we have 10 flats already licensed, and with this application we can get the remaining six signed off.”
Councils have powers to control the volume of HMO dwellings because of conflicts between the lifestyles of large concentrations of student tenants and other householders there is a 12.5% limit per census output area.
An HMO application cannot be refused because of overprovision, but the applicant must be able to convince the licensing committee of exceptional circumstances to justify the policy not being applied.
Mr Hawkins sought to make that case, providing evidence of the quality and management standard of the dwellings. He also pointed out that the students were filling out the entire connected properties and were not being mixed with non-student residents.
Mr Ferguson was not impressed, saying: “Someone in this city has to take cognisance of the fact that we have overprovision here, and what happens when families come along for rehousing? They won’t be able to get into areas like the West end because there is overprovision of HMOs, which is creating an imbalance of housing types across the city.”
He added: “We have to be careful we are not heading for an HMO ghetto in parts of the city like the west end.”
Councillor Laurie Bidwell backed his Labour colleague, saying: “The west end enjoys the benefits of having Dundee University and Duncan of Jordanstone College, but we have to have a balance between the HMOs and other types of housing.”
John Alexander said that as SNP housing convener and a student at Dundee University he had a double interest in the issue. He accepted what was said about HMOs, and agreed the council had to provide for many housing needs.
In this case the committee was dealing with student flats in an area where there were many similar homes.
The motion to grant the application was carried 4-3.
The same landlord’s bid for a five-person HMO dwelling at 10A Lower Flat, Westfield Place, was unanimously refused.
Two residents submitted objections on grounds of over-intensification. The application would create HMO residences for 10 people at the location where there was already a large number of such dwellings.
Mr Bidwell said granting the application would be detrimental to the existing community, and other councillors agreed.
The Westfield Place application is understood to be the first that councillors have turned down for being over the quota.
Mr Hawkins said he would appeal.