A PLAN has been submitted totrun a family home on a residential estate in Grays into a house of multiple occupancy (HMO).

On behalf of the owner property agent Ashfaq Ahmed has applied for planning permission to convert the three-storey property at 22 Rookwood Close.

The application - and the opportunity to comment on it, can be found here. If successful it would allow the dwelling to become home to four tenants.

HMOs (house in multiple occupation) involve at least three tenants living together, sharing toilet, kitchen and bathroom facilities. 

Conditions may often be poor or cramped - though the council should impose rigourous standards.  

There could also be concerns about the loss of a family home from the housing market.