HMO developer defends historic building project

Alec Doyle Local Democracy Reporter

The developer behind plans to turn one of Wrexham’s most historic properties into a HMO has opened its doors in a bid to counter the idea that tenants would be ‘squeezed in’.

Grade II listed 61 King Street – an original building on the first planned street in Wrexham – is being turned into a House of Multiple Occupancy (HMO).

Attention turned to the development last month when, during Wrexham County Borough Council’s Planning Committee, Grosvenor Ward councillor Marc Jones expressed his concerns at an application to increase the number of tenants at 61 King Street from six to 10.

“I have concerns about the numbers being squeezed into some of these properties and I will be taking that up with licensing,” he said at the time.

“I do have concerns that we’re not providing amenity space for 10 people. They don’t have any communal living space in the house, there’s a back yard which is going to suffice for bins, for parking, for bikes and drying clothes.”

Councillors did approve the application and work is now almost complete.

Challenge

Now Lee Chaloner, director of Wrexham-based developer Passive Property which is behind the project, has challenged the idea that HMOs are just poor-quality housing run by unscrupulous landlords.

Passive Property runs 10 HMOs in North Wales and an AirBnB in Llangollen. It has invested £152,000 in the renovation project at 61 King Street, eliminating damp, insulating the property and fitting it out as a high-end HMO.

Lee said he understood why critics were worried about these types of applications but said his firm’s approach was very different to the way people think of HMOs.

“There’s no getting away from it, HMOs have a bad name,” he said. “So I appreciate when we were applying to increase the capacity that the reaction to that on paper was negative.

“In fact the reality is very different. We have created a high-standard living space for tenants. Had we put in the application and called these studio flats, I doubt we would have had the same reaction.”

Lee, a former Army electrician who has been renovating and running HMOs for five years, opened the doors to his King Street property before it was let out to show just what kind of living space was on offer.

“Misconceptions”

“We are used to getting a negative reaction when we start work on a property,” he said.

“People get concerned about who will be living here and the impact on the community. During the project here one member of the public approached the team and asked ‘why are you spending so much on a dosshouse’.

“It’s a common misconception, as most HMOs have drifted into the sector over time, with landlords adapting their properties on the fly before specific planning permission was required and creating some of the problems people think of.

“But I don’t want people to tar us all with the same brush. Our properties are mostly rented by professionals – people who may be working in the area on long term contracts or extended temporary contracts.

“Many are temporarily in the NHS, at HMP Berwyn or anywhere where they may be spending an extended period of time here but not long enough to have to be registered on the electoral roll and such.

“Outside of that we get some students and sadly we do also get people who are going through family break-up. They need something affordable and close to their families to have contact with their children.

“We also get a lot of local young adults. With house and rental prices skyrocketing and people finding it harder to move out of mum and dad’s house a HMO can be an affordable transition to gain a little independence and still save for a deposit.”

The ground floor of 61 King Street – which was most recently an accountancy firm – will remain a commercial office space in keeping with the rest of the street with its own kitchenette and bathroom.

In the residential part of the building a large communal kitchen area offers a place to both store and prepare food and socialise with other tenants. It also features a dishwasher, washing machine and tumble-dryer.

On the first floor landing there is an installation of artworks by local Wrexham artists plus the first three rooms.

Regulations

According to UK regulations the minimum size of a HMO room is 6.5 square metres for a single occupant and 10.5sq m for an adult couple. At 61 King Street room sizes range from 10.5sq m up to 17.5sq m.

All bar two rooms have an en-suite with toilet, shower and washbasin with an additional communal bathroom available for tenants without en-suites.

There are three spacious bedrooms on each floor, all fitted with the latest sprinkler systems and ventilation plus secondary double glazing, which keeps in the heat and keeps out the noise.

“There is no outside communal area, which was one of the councillors’ concerns,” admitted Lee. “But there are many people living in blocks of flats across the city that don’t have outside areas either. That is what the parks and public areas are for.”

All the work has been completed by tradespeople from Wrexham and north Wales, with interior design by Lewis Knox Interior Design in Farndon, Cheshire.

“We try to ensure as much of the work we do on all our projects uses local tradespeople,” said Lee. “It’s all part of the same idea. We want to create good quality living spaces for people, not just get as many people in as we can.

“With the housing crisis as it is, HMOs are an important part of the mix. If they are done right, they give people an easy, affordable way to enjoy living in the city.”