National HMO Invasion

From Pub to Prison Cell: The HMO Invasion You Didn’t Vote For

They call it regeneration. We call it asset-stripping in slow motion. Across England and Wales, developers are carving our towns into pieces — one overpriced room at a time.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when property developers smell profit, just look at our towns.
Across England and Wales, they’ve taken the traditional high street, the corner pub, and even old hotels — and transformed them into HMOs faster than you can say “no consultation.”

In Oswestry alone, 50 council houses lie empty, according to a Freedom of Information response from Shropshire Towns and Rural Housing (STAR Housing). That’s 50 roofs that could be sheltering families — but instead, we’re told we need more “flexible housing solutions” (developer code for profit-heavy, community-light room shares).

These HMOs are popping up within yards of schools, along routes children walk every day. Yet somehow, councillors and planning officers — so vocal when defending their own allowances — become masters of mime when residents raise concerns.

And the landlords? Mostly absentee, collecting rent from afar while the community picks up the social bill.

We’re not short of housing. We’re short of honesty.

The “Housing Shortage” Mirage

Developers love to tell councils that without their latest 20-bed HMO, the streets will be lined with desperate families sleeping in bus shelters. Yet in Oswestry alone, Shropshire Towns and Rural Housing admits 50 council homes are sitting empty — some for over two years — out of 1,828 under its management. Yes, we checked twice — the number really is fifty

The Playbook — Explained in Pub Terms

Buy Cheap, Cash In – Old pubs, tired hotels, forgotten care homes — all fair game. — snapped up by companies with names like “YPV 1 Ltd” (because “Speculative Property Grabbers R Us” doesn’t look as good on Companies House).

Put It in a New Wrapper – Each site gets its own “special purpose vehicle” (SPV) — financial Russian dolls. If one fails, the rest keep spinning rent.

Maximise Yield per Square Metre – More units = more rent; small units = economy of scale.

Repeat Across Counties – Same agent, same playbook, different postcode.

Stay Out of Sight – Many of these landlords are entirely absent, operating from PO boxes or addresses far outside the community — often outside the county entirely.

The Cast of Characters

Bhupinderjit “Jassy” Sidhu — in control of multiple SPVs (YPV, SSP, BSS et al) with property charges tying him to the Smithfield Hotel (Oswestry) and 21 Stafford Road (Cannock). — the man behind a small alphabet soup of companies (YPV, SSP, BSS) — each one like a matryoshka doll, only with fewer smiles and more property charges.

Creative Planning Ltd (Joe Salt) — planning agent on multiple contentious Shropshire HMOs.

SPV Stablemates — SSP 01/02/05 Ltd, Everest Homes Ltd, and the occasional phoenix company.

Rinse, Repeat, Relocate – Same faces, new postcode, same outcome

Smithfield Hotel, Oswestry — The Case Study

Proposal: 22-bedroom HMO in a former town-centre hotel.

Opposition: Oswestry Town Council — citing overdevelopment, poor access, and health concerns.

Reality: YPV 1 Ltd holds the legal charge; agent is Creative Planning Ltd.

Proximity to Schools: On walking routes for local pupils — meaning the daily school run now passes the front doors of 22 unrelated tenants. These are not just “walking routes” but child safety and safeguarding issues.

Ownership Reality: The landlord is not a local figure — this is an investment, not a home.

Cannock — 21 Stafford Road

Proposal: Former Royal British Legion → 14-unit HMO.

Twist: Same network, same structure.

Proximity to Schools: Main route to St Michael’s Primary and Oakhill Academy.

Ownership Reality: Again, an absent landlord — operating from well outside the community.

Highley — Castle Inn

Proposal: 17-bed HMO.

Pattern: Another ex-pub, same intensification.

Why It Matters (in numbers anyone can get)

Rent Yield: 14–22 rooms at £100–£150/week = £72k–£171k/year from a single building.

Scorecard

Capital Gain: Approval can spike paper value by 30–50%.

Local Cost: Parking strain, bins overflowing, GP lists swelling — and school routes altered.

Community Impact: Profits exported elsewhere — because the landlords aren’t here to spend them.

Council “Housing Targets”: Met with beds, not homes.

Local Democracy: Objections acknowledged, then buried.

Transparency: More data on bin day than on who owns your street.

Community Connection: Non-existent — Landlords absent, profits exported. The landlords don’t even live in the towns they reshape.

Closing Rally Call:

Oswestry is just the pilot scheme. If you want to stop your town being the next testing ground, speak up. Write to your councillors. Demand Article 4 Directions. Or watch as your high street becomes a postcode of profit for someone you’ll never meet.— and all while 50 council houses in Oswestry gather dust. If that’s ‘tackling the housing crisis’, then my shed is a housing solution.