Property developers have recently bought two houses on our street in Biggin Hill (no. 19 & 31 St Mary’s Green) - a quiet road where the residents are mostly families and retirees.

The developer’s intention is to convert what are currently family homes into HMO’s (house in multiple occupancy). We have it on good authority that the company Stef & Philips will be managing the property after the conversion has been completed, offering accommodation to tenants such as homeless, asylum seekers, vulnerable families and those with addiction issues. This information can be found on their website.

http://www.stefphilips.com/tenants/

This is on top of the many other properties within the immediate area that have been bought and are currently being turned into HMO’s or have building control plans to become one. As you can imagine this is causing a lot of concern for all the surrounding residents.

We are a small quiet community, with an already struggling infrastructure, when it comes to things such as parking, schools and GP surgeries which are already being stretched. Adding properties of this type will only add to the strain on our community.

Reported issues with having HMO's nearby have included (to name a few):

No regard for residents.

An impact on crime.

Harmful impact on the character of the area.

Difficulty selling their homes/decreased house prices.

Security risk (burglary, theft)

For our small road we already struggle to park our cars and this will only get worse, with houses with multiple occupancy. There are around 20, possibly more children living in our road, of which a few are classed as ‘Vulnerable children’, we as a community have built an environment to give them the freedom of the green, and still give them the safety they all deserve. With tenants that could possibly threaten the safety, and community-based personality of our green, the children may lose that freedom we have all worked so hard to give them.

We have created a petition as we all feel it is necessary to object to the HMO licence applications, we do not want this type of development in our nice quiet community. The council needs to take notice of its residents’ concerns.