Property owner is trying to convert an HMO in Wyatt Street in Maidstone back into a family home

In a town that is becoming known for its high number of houses of multiple occupation (HMO’s), one homeowner is trying to go the other way.

In June last year, Ayodele Omogbehin applied to Maidstone council for permission to convert 29 Wyatt Street, Maidstone, from its existing use as a four-bedroom HMO back to that of a single-family home.

Permission was granted. But listed building consent was refused.

Maidstone council has recently been criticised for not having adequate plans to control HMO applications, which in some parts of the borough are tending to dominate the street scene.

The Wyatt Street property, believed to date from 1839, is Grade ll-listed and lies within the Holy Trinity Conservation Area.

It is constructed of Kentish ragstone. Only one room wide, it is built over three storeys with a basement.

Listed building consent was refused, because – although the conversion would not alter the outside – the council’s conservation officer considered the application did not contain sufficient detail about the internal alterations to determine whether they would have a significant effect on the historic character of the building.

Mr Omogbehin was seeking permission to convert the basement kitchen to a bedroom, convert a utility room to a kitchen, remove a plaster-board wall between the kitchen and the front room, replace missing mosaic tiles to the hallway floor and remove carpet from each room and replace it with white wooden floors.

He also wants to convert the top-floor box room to a toilet and replace the garden’s artificial grass with a natural lawn.

Mr Omogbehin is now trying again and has submitted a new application with a more comprehensive heritage statement from specialist company Fuller Long which, as well as examining the significance or otherwise of each proposed alteration also includes a full archaeological history of the area – as far as is known – dating back to Roman times.

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Details of the listed building consent application can be viewed on the Maidstone council website under application number 24/503381.

It has yet to be determined by the council.