Small HMOs will need planning permission across most of Tonbridge and in Kings Hill, Larkfield, Snodland and Walderslade. The council can act from 11 November.

Turning a family house into a small shared house is set to need planning permission across most of Tonbridge and in eight areas of the borough. Until now the rule covered only three small areas. Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning, Councillor Mike Taylor, signed the decision on Tuesday 3 November.

Updated 12 November: no councillor called the decision in. The council’s decision record now shows it as approved and effective from 11 November (decision details).

Updated 9 November: the council re-launched the consultation on 6 November. It now covers all the areas above and runs until 18 December, replacing the 27 November closing date. Comments already sent still count.

It is an immediate direction, like the first one. So the rule can apply as soon as the council makes it, without the usual 12-month wait. The call-in deadline is 10 November, and the decision can take effect from 11 November if no councillor calls it in. (Decision D260104MEM, decision details)

The areas on the new maps

The council has published eight maps, drawn by its consultants DHA Planning in October. They cover:

  • Tonbridge: most of the town, including Trench and Higham wards, which were left out of the first direction
  • Kings Hill: the whole settlement between the A228 Malling Road and the fields to the east
  • Larkfield, including New Hythe
  • Aylesford South and Ditton
  • Aylesford North and North Downs, which takes in Burham, Eccles and Wouldham
  • Snodland West and Holborough Lakes
  • Snodland East and Ham Hill
  • Walderslade, the part of the borough beside Chatham

(Tonbridge, Kings Hill, Larkfield, Aylesford South, Snodland West, Snodland East, Aylesford North, Walderslade)

The maps show boundaries, not street lists. If you are near an edge, check the map for your road before you rely on it.

What the rule does

A “small HMO” is a house shared by three to six unrelated people. Normally a landlord can convert a family home into one without planning permission. An Article 4 Direction removes that right in the areas it covers, so the conversion needs a planning application.

It does not ban HMOs. It means each one is looked at by the council’s planners, who can consider parking, bins, noise and how many shared houses are already nearby. Larger HMOs, with seven or more people, already need planning permission everywhere.

Why the council changed it

Cabinet approved the first direction on 6 October. It covered the streets around Tonbridge station and the High Street, a strip of Snodland along Malling Road, and an estate in East Malling. That direction has applied since 16 October. Its consultation was due to close on 27 November and has since been extended to 18 December. Our earlier report has the details.

The new decision says that, after that meeting, officers found the decision “as recorded did not include the wider areas considered as part of the evidence base”. It gives the reason for acting now as “prompt action was needed to prevent further HMOs being established before the consultation process had concluded”.

What the council’s evidence said about these areas

The wider areas are the ones the council’s own consultants looked at and did not recommend. Their HMO Review and Evidence Paper, put to Cabinet in October, concluded there was “insufficient evidence” for a direction in them. It advised the council to monitor them instead.

Its reasons, area by area:

  • Kings Hill: no HMOs at all, and house prices that make conversion unlikely.
  • Larkfield: no known HMOs. Most homes have off-street parking and reasonable gardens.
  • Aylesford North and North Downs: one known HMO, on Station Road, Aylesford. Housing similar to Larkfield’s.
  • The rest of Tonbridge: a few isolated HMOs, including in Trench and Higham, in areas where prices are unlikely to rise much. Much of Trench’s housing is semi-detached with off-street parking.
  • Walderslade: “no current evidence” of a problem. The paper noted strong public interest after two properties were linked to possible asylum housing, and the risk of “overspill” from Medway, which already controls HMOs.

The paper also said crime and anti-social behaviour in Larkfield and Aylesford could not be directly linked to HMOs.

The 3 November decision says the Cabinet Member had regard to that evidence and to a further planning note on immediate directions. That note was listed with the decision, but it would not download when we tried on 6 November.

The compensation risk

Officers had warned about this when they recommended a slower, non-immediate direction in October. Their report said the 12-month route “mitigates the financial risks associated with an immediate direction, where compensation could be due to anyone already in the process of setting up a HMO”. (Report to Cabinet, 6 October 2026)

The new direction covers a much larger area, so more property owners fall inside it.

What happens next

  • 10 November: the call-in deadline.
  • 11 November: the earliest the decision can be put into effect.
  • The council then makes the direction and publishes notice. The rule applies from then.
  • Residents in the new areas will be consulted. The decision says the results go back to “the relevant committee”, as the law requires.

An immediate direction lapses after six months unless the council confirms it.

What it means for you

  • If you own a house in one of these areas and plan to let it as a shared house, check the maps. Once the direction is made you will need planning permission first. If you are already part way through a conversion, take advice: this is where compensation claims can arise.
  • If you live in one of these areas, you will be able to comment on future HMO applications near you, as you can on any planning application. Our planning news page tracks new applications.
  • If you want a say on the direction itself, the council’s consultation now covers all the areas and is open until 18 December 2026 at tmbc.gov.uk/hmo-consultation. Comments sent in the first consultation still count, so there is no need to send them again. (Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, 6 November 2026)