Multiple occupancy provides an essential form of accommodation for many people. When concentrated in a particular street, street block or building, however, it can give rise to environmental problems due to increased activity, noise, pressure on car parking and refuse disposal. The following policy aims to strike a balance between the demand for this particular type of accommodation and the need to ensure that the amenity of residential streets or buildings is not adversely affected by its presence. It should be read in conjunction with Policy RES 7: Change of Use of Dwellings. Multiple occupancy development within the City Centre will be determined against the criteria listed in policy CC/RES 3: Multiple Occupancy in the City Centre.

There is no definition of multiple occupancy in planning legislation. Under the terms of Class 9 of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Scotland) Order 1997, planning permission is not required for the use of a house by:

a) a single person or by persons living together as a family; or

b) not more than five residents living together.

The Use Classes Order 1997 does not define a family or living together (although there is a definition of the former in Article 2 (5) of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation) Order 2000. A flat is defined as a separate and self contained set of premises, whether or not on the same floor which is divided horizontally from some other part of the building. For flatted properties, there is no commonly accepted definition of the term multiple occupancy. However, any planning policy requires such a definition to highlight why multiple occupancy of a flat is different from family occupancy to the extent that it constitutes a material change of use requiring planning permission. Such a definition must also reflect the potential disamenity of multiple occupancies to adjacent residents and their cumulative effect on the amenity of surrounding residential areas. It must also provide clarity for the purposes of enforcement.

In Glasgow, tenement flats have primarily been occupied by families and there has always been a general presumption against non-residential and quasi-residential uses in such buildings. Multiple occupancies are quasi-commercial uses and the intermingling of these with family homes erodes the long guarded residential amenity. Noise and disturbance are typical problems of multiple occupancy. Tenants in multiple occupancy generally have lifestyles more independent of each other than would be found in families living together. The individual cooking arrangements associated with multiple occupancy generates more refuse and bedrooms are used more intensively, with a resulting unavoidable increase in movement and noise. There is also more social activity and coming and going, placing increased pressure on common access, refuse and drying facilities.

On the basis of the above, multiple occupancy is sufficiently different from family occupancy, in fact and degree, to allow a change from the latter to the former to be regarded as a material change requiring planning permission (see Definition).

The Council considers that planning permission for multiple occupancy is required in the following cases.

HOUSES, OTHER THAN FLATS

Permission is required:

FLATS 

Permission is required:

Planning permission is deemed not to be required where only one lodger is accommodated in addition to one resident family.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Applicants may also have to comply with fire, environmental health and licensing requirements. Possession of a planning permission or certificate of lawfulness will not itself justify the grant of a licence, where different matters are taken into consideration.

Planning applications for new multiple occupancies will be judged against the following criteria:

(i) there must be individual access to a lit street. (This would include main door flats and undivided terraced houses but would exclude most properties served by a tenement close and properties which have already been subdivided);

(ii) there must be direct access to appropriate refuse collection and a drying area to the rear of the building. Bin stores should be provided in accordance with policy RES 16: Bin Stores;

(iii) the need for car parking will be assessed in each case in accordance with policy TRANS 4: Vehicle Parking Guidelines (Table 1 section A); and

(iv) within a given street or block (or other readily identifiable unit) the proportion of multiple occupancies should not exceed 5% of the total number of dwellings comprising that unit (10% in the West End). Exemptions from this rule may include properties that have become completely isolated from standard family accommodation. (The figures relating to the West End, both in terms of density and threshold, were determined as a result of a planning inquiry on the basis of the number and broad distribution of houses used in the area for multiple occupation, particularly for residents attending Glasgow University and other tertiary education facilities).

CERTIFICATES OF LAWFULNESS

When an application is submitted for a Certificate of Existing Lawful Use as a multiple occupancy, the applicant is required to demonstrate that the use has been in operation continuously for 10 years preceding the date of the application.

Examples of evidence which can be submitted are as follows:

The list of criteria is not exhaustive and it is possible for satisfactory evidence to come from other sources. The onus to produce such evidence lies with the applicant.

ENFORCEMENT

Given their potential impact, the Council will vigorously pursue planning enforcement action against unauthorised or unlawful multiple occupancies giving rise to residential disamenity.

LOCAL AREA POLICY

Within Dennistoun Conservation Area further multiple occupancy will be resisted. This is due to the limited number of dwellings within the area and the relatively high number of these properties that are in non-residential use.

MULTIPLE OCCUPANCY

The guidance to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupancy) Order 2000 defines multiple occupancy as the "only or principle residence of more than two persons who are not all members either of the same family or of one or other of two families." Based on this definition, the Council considers that multiple occupancy of a flat comprises occupancy by more than two unrelated persons. Given the scale of multiple occupancy in the West End (see map), the Council considers that multiple occupancy of a flat in that area comprises occupancy by more than 3 unrelated persons. These definitions reflect the Council’s view of when multiple occupancy requires planning permission and do not emanate from planning legislation.

West End Multiple Occupancy