When residents of Wellington Avenue in South Liverpool wake up to see more scaffolding going up in their street – their hearts sink.
That's because they know what this means.
It means more properties being converted to create multiple bedrooms for multiple students. It has been a repeated recipe in this south Liverpool street and sadly one that has resulted in chaos and misery for the long-term residents.
Wellington Avenue is one of many that lie off Smithdown Road, the city's most well known student area. Like countless others in this area of Wavertree, the proliferation of cramped, shared houses have caused real issues.
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Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) are big business in this part of the city. Landlords, most of whom appear to live outside of the city, have, for many years, been able to strip out what were once family homes and convert them into shared properties for as many students as possible.
For a long time this was far too easy for the landlords to do, they didn't even need to get planning permission. This saw a huge influx of shared homes, some with as many as eight bedrooms, effectively take over communities like this one.
In 2021 the council brought in a change to make such conversions a bit more difficult.
The Article 4 direction means that in certain parts of the city – including this one – planning permission must now be obtained to convert a property into a HMO for three or more people. Another change under the council's local plan means that planning permission can now be refused where there is a concentration of more than 10% of HMOs in a particular area.
This is good news for places that have yet to become dominated by these types of shared homes, but for residents in Wellington Avenue, the damage has already been done.
Vicki and Vincent have both lived in the street for more than 30 years and have watched with horror as these changes occurred. They asked to only be referred to by their first names in this article.
They are two of a group of residents who are completely fed up with what has become of the place they call home – an area they say was once full of families, but is now dominated by student parties, late night noise, rubbish all over the streets and towering properties that give them no privacy.
While Article 4 is now in place, new scaffolding has been put up around existing HMOs, prompting fears for the residents that landlords may be finding new ways to get around the regulations and cram even more students into existing properties.
Vincent said: "The latest plot appears to be the addition of an extra floor to existing houses, which we think are capable of adding at least another four students to each already overcrowded property. A monstrosity of a scaffolding has been put up on a HMO in Wellington Avenue recently.
"We, the local long standing residents are appalled and worried that if this one 3rd floor extension is allowed to go ahead, many other landlords will swiftly follow on, and the problem of the massive dormers they have already plagued us with at the rear of virtually every HMO, have plunged us into the bottom of what feels like a steep canyon in our backyards, blocking off the evening sunshine and also losing privacy by being overlooked by all the windows towering over us, will now also happen along our house fronts.
"That will be so stressful, distressing and depressing."
The ECHO has regularly reported on antisocial issues that have been taking place in this student-dominated part of the city. In recent weeks, streets in the area have been a chaotic mess of dumped rubbish and household items as those who have made the area their temporary home packed up and went home for the summer.
Vincent added: "With all the constant mess, rats, disrespect, noisy parties, general noise, smell of weed smoke, blocking car parking spaces and everything else which we already have to constantly endure, cramming even more students into this saturated area is unforgivable and must be stopped."
Vicki is worried too. She said: "The reason why this is so worrying is, it may well set a precedent for other HMO landlords to follow suit and add third storey extensions to the many, many student HMOs that already exist in the Smithdown Ward (and others).
"This will lead to further congestion with cars- many students have them parked up for days- up to four or five per house in some cases as well as rubbish, noise, anti- social behaviour.. I strongly believe that this will be a tactic to get around Article 4."
Vicki says she feels let down by the council for what has already been allowed to happen in her street. She adds: "This area has suffered badly because of a complete lack of planning control over the last five or so years. Seven and eight bed HMO conversions should have always needed planning permission before conversion.
"This is the law, yet houses were gutted and converted without it – being granted retrospective planning permission afterwards."
Vicki says she feels local people are treated as second class citizens in the area compared with the students who come in. She said: "We're worried about the children who live here, who are being kept up late by parties and are tired at school, who have to walk past rubbish every day. Our kids are being set a bad example, why are they not prioritised here?"
Its fair to say that Liverpool City Council and its new leader Liam Robinson are taking the sorts of issues affecting residents in Wellington Avenue more seriously.
The first big policy of the new administration, the Neighbourhood Plan, is aimed at delivering better services – including enforcement – with the city to be divided up into 13 new neighbourhoods, each led by a senior manager who will be permanently situated in the area.
They will each work with departments across the council to highlight and tackle the key issues in the area, be it housing, waste management, potholes, parking, or anti-social behaviour.
The council also said its enforcement team is actively now investigating the building work taking place at one of the HMOs highlighted by Vincent and Vicki in Wellington Avenue.
Council Leader, Cllr Liam Robinson, said: “This type of issue is a real concern and it is something myself and other councillors want to see urgently addressed. Some of this is in our hands in terms of how we use our powers, but we also need the government to do more to deter landlords from riding roughshod over the planning system.
“I am also frustrated because HMOs make no contribution to the cost of providing council services as student accommodation is exempt from Council Tax.
“We introduced a new law requiring HMOs to gain planning permission, and have toughened that in our new local plan to strictly limit the number in a neighbourhood.
“We are also working hard to tackle issues with dumping, litter and other anti-social behaviour as part of our determination to improve our communities.”
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