Neighbours were worried that a party house could become noisier once it stopped hosting “stags and hens”, councillors were told.
The owners of the property, in Lansdowne Place, Hove, want to turn their premises into a shared house for young professionals.
The four-bedroom property – a few doors from the old Lansdowne Place Hotel – has been used as a short-term holiday let by stag and hen parties.
Lazova Investment Properties – run by Jeremy and Marcela Pegg – applied to Brighton and Hove City Council for planning permission for a change of use.
The four-storey townhouse was classed as a “single dwelling house” under planning law and Lazova wants it to become a “house in multiple occupation” (HMO).
Green councillor Hannah Clare, who represents Brunswick and Adelaide ward, told a “virtual” meeting of the council’s Planning Committee yesterday (Wednesday 6 May) that neighbours had raised concerns, notably the Landsdowne Area Residents’ Association.
Planning consultant Gareth Giles, from architects Whaleback, spoke on behalf of Lazova, saying that the company bought 2C Landsdowne Place last year.
It wanted to turn the building into a shared house for young working professionals on longer-term lets, limited to seven occupants.
Mr Giles said: “The applicant is catering for long-term professional tenants rather than tourists.
“It is remote from the universities so not suitable for students, which was also raised as a concern.
“It is materially different from a tourist let and party house.”
Councillor Clare said that people living in the area had suffered noise problems.
The proposed changes also gave rise to concerns about living standards, with some rooms close to the minimum “national space standard”, making them “quite tight”.
Councillor Clare said: “There is only one living space in the basement. It’s quite small if seven people want to cook, socialise and eat at the same time.
“The HMO standards say the kitchen is not normally one floor distant. For some people it would be three floors distant. That is quite far.”
She was also concerned about evacuation from the third floor if the basement kitchen caught fire.
It’s a shame that HMO tenants have garnered such a reputation that they are assumed to be more antisocial than stag and hen do revellers.
Many young professionals, including key workers essential to B&H’s economy and public services, are perefectly capable of living peacefully and responsibily within the community. They can’t afford their own flats so live in shared houses, and are villified by the community for doing so?