Judge rules microwave does not make a flat as hotel loses key legal battle |
Great Yarmouth Borough Council has won a key legal battle against the owners of the St George Hotel, parts of which will now be classified as a house in multiple occupancy (HMO).
The council first raised the matter in 2023, when housing officers inspected the Anglia Square property and found 32 of its 62 rooms were being used to house homeless people.
The hotel in 2013 (Image: Evelyn Simak)
Officers said the rooms did not meet the legal test for self-contained flats and ruled the hotel should be licensed as an HMO, meaning it would be subject to tougher safety and housing standards.
However the hotel’s owners, Oxford Hotel Investments Ltd, challenged the decision at the First Tier Tribunal, a court that hears appeals over council verdicts, claiming each room was a self-contained unit.........