A terraced house in Leigh was converted into a five-bed HMO without planning permission

Planning permission for a newly created HMO has been applied for retrospectively.

Plans published by Wigan Council state the property is an extended mid-terrace house on the eastern side of Leigh Road, around 620m north of Leigh town centre.

Sarfat Ahmed is applying for full retrospective planning permission to change the use of the building into a single occupancy five-bedroom house in multiple occupation (HMO).

In July 2025, the council made a borough-wide article four direction that removed permitted development rights for changes of use from individual houses to small houses in multiple occupation.

It meant that from August 31, 2025 all HMOs, regardless of size, needed planning permission.

A planning statement in support of the application said: “The reason for this application being submitted in retrospect is that changes to convert the house were well under way and completed before the article four direction came into force.

“All internal works and a tenant had signed an agreement to stay at the property under the HMO use.

“As such, prior to the article four direction, this small HMO would have been classed as permitted development at that time, the reason for the works taking place.

“Given the above, and correspondence over the past year by the applicant with the council’s enforcement team and housing standards, it was determined by the authority that formal planning application was required to regularise the development.”

Leigh MP Jo Platt said she will oppose the application.

She said: “The purpose of the article four direction was not to prevent HMO development outright.

“Rather, it was introduced to ensure that proposals involving the loss of family housing and the creation of shared accommodation are subject to proper planning scrutiny and assessed against local circumstances, residential amenity and housing need.

“As a supporter of that approach, I am concerned that the current application does not provide the level of evidence, detail or justification that would reasonably be expected for a retrospective proposal of this nature.”

She also raised issues relating to parking pressures, residential amenity, accommodation standards and the cumulative impact of HMOs on established residential communities.

At the time of writing, 21 additional objections to the application had been published on the council’s planning portal.

Planners in Wigan will deliberate on the plans in the coming weeks.