A legal dispute over whether the St George Hotel in Great Yarmouth qualifies as a house in multiple occupation (HMO) has been resolved in favour of the local council. Great Yarmouth Borough Council argued that the building should be licensed as an HMO due to housing conditions, while the owners, Oxford Hotel Investments, claimed the rooms were self-contained flats.
The council first became concerned after housing officers inspected the property on Albert Square and found that 32 of the 62 rooms were being used to accommodate homeless people. Officers determined that the rooms did not meet the legal criteria for self-contained flats, noting they lacked full cooking facilities. As a result, the council required the building to be licensed as an HMO, which would subject it to stricter safety and housing standards.
Oxford Hotel Investments challenged the decision at a tribunal, arguing that each room should be classified as a flat. Tribunal inspectors found that while the rooms were en-suite, they only included a microwave, kettle, and fridge, without proper cooking or food preparation areas.
The tribunal upheld the council’s ruling, with Judge Johns KC stating that a room could not “be turned into a flat simply by plugging in a microwave.” He emphasised that the rooms had “no relevant storage, no food preparation area” and noted that planning laws are designed to “protect people in the occupation of their homes, not to encourage them to cook their own meals.”
The owners sought a second tribunal, which again ruled in the council’s favour. Despite this, Oxford Hotel Investments has now indicated plans to appeal the verdict.
A hotel spokesman confirmed that the building has not housed homeless people for approximately two years. Paul Wells, the council’s Conservative portfolio holder for licensing, welcomed the ruling, describing it as a precedent for other local authorities seeking to improve housing standards. He said: “Our teams worked exceptionally hard to achieve this result and deserve real credit.”
