THE OWNER of a new Stalybridge house in multiple occupation (HMO) is ready to disprove neighbours’ fears.
Many people see term in a negative context, with comments to The Correspondent’s articles about them mentioning ‘immigrants’, ‘boat people’ and ‘dinghies’.
But previously, many of the critics would have termed them as bedsits, although there is a legal difference.
And tales of many people sharing the same house are nothing new.
Now Steven Higginbotham, who has turned what was the Stocks Inn pub, on Stocks Lane, into eight units, is eager to show perception does not necessarily equate to reality.
After succeeding with an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate following Tameside Council’s refusal, he unveiled the property – which if someone does not give the right impression, they will not be allowed to move into.
And he told The Correspondent: “I want people to understand there are two types of HMO. There’s your slum landlord and that’s what they’re trying to prevent.
“I get it, not a problem. But there’s a lot of good landlords like us.
“It’s eight beds, it’ll be eight single people.
“You can have a guest, but there can’t be double occupancy. Couples can’t move in.
“You’ve certainly got to be working. I think that’s one of the concerns of people, isn’t it?
“But you’ve got to be working. You’ve got to have references. You’ve got to have a guarantor. We go through a really stringent interview process.
“One of the misconceptions about shared living is that properties have been turned into doss houses.
“We have cleaner come in here every two weeks into all the shared areas. They’re our eyes and ears.
“We ‘ve also got CCTV in the communal areas, so we can see if there are any problems.
“We have a WhatsApp group for the house, the family, we call it, It’s the residents’ WhatsApp group and it’s their house.
“They can all talk amongst themselves, but it’s their way of speaking to us about things and we’re always very open with them.
“We come and do inspections every quarter, at least. My wife, Lisa, does a full inspection of everything.
“These are the things that some people don’t understand.
“Residents started to get this bad vibe about what it was going to be and there was a hundred and odd objections.
“The council cited parking. I said, ‘Fair enough, I’ll get a proper parking survey done.’
“So I had a guy for 24 hours for five days over weekends and stuff like that. He said there’s ample parking for this type of property.
“We did a survey of all our properties and only 20 per cent of our people have cars.
“Most of them walk to work, get taxes, or get local transport.
“We call it high-end co-living and this is what I want everybody to understand. I’m trying to reach out at the minute still to the MP and the councillors in the area.
people need to understand that there’s positive things to it.
“I remember it as a pub, when it was a working pub and it was rank. It was terrible. It was absolutely shocking.
“We took an old building that had no reuse. Someone would probably have demolished it and built a block of flats because the houses wouldn’t have paid.
“But we’ve improved the street scene, we’ve spent all the money with local contractors.
“It looks a lot better from the outside when you’re walking as well.
“I’m excited to show people what it’s like and we want to tackle that misconception about HMOs.
“There’s always going to be people that have their view and you can’t change it, no matter what. But let’s put it out there.”
Steven, who along with Lisa through their Morada Property Management company has spent £500,000 on the project, has transformed the plot after buying it two years ago.
Every unit has en suite bathroom facilities, every bed has storage underneath, every resident can access super-fast Wi-Fi and there is CCTV in the communal areas.
Yet opponents to the scheme included Stalybridge South Cllr Dorren Dickinson, who said after the appeal’s success: “I’m very disappointed. People in the area are very disappointed, and I’m also disappointed for those who’ll live there.
“All they’ll have, as he says, is a big communal room, which our officers said would them feeling kind of institutionalised.
“That’s very true.”
However, those behind Morada Property Management, who realise speaking before the decision was made may have meant a conflict of interest as she is a member of Tameside Council’s Speaker’s Panel (Planning) committee, say their door is always open, if she wants to step through it.
Mr Higginbotham added: “I said to her, ‘Will you meet me and I’ll talk to you and I’ll tell you what we’re about?’
“We’re a Cheshire-based family business, this is what we do. We use local contractors and even when we’ve gone, it’s going to be local contractors – the cleaner, handyman, all these types of things.
“I said to Doreen, ’Will you speak with me?’ She said no. “
Now acoustic insulation has been installed, to make sure the conversion meets regulations, units will be rented for up to £800 per month.
And Mr Higginbotham believes house prices in Stalybridge justify the conversion.
He told The Correspondent: “This is a great area, and it just needs a little bit more time and investment and things like that, people like us.
“What people don’t realise is it keeps the housing market going because we’ll bring young people who want to move out for the first time who could probably afford the house or the rent, but when all the bills are put on top of it, it’s too much.
“That is why there’s a need for shared living.”