Student, landlords and letting agents are joining together in many cities to battle local councils who want to tighten controls on shared housing.
Many councils are seeking 'article 4' powers under the Housing Act so they can manage the numbers of shared houses in neighbourhoods favoured by students.
These powers stop landlords setting up new shared houses for letting without gaining planning permission first and impose stricter health and safety standards.
Many councils are under pressure from residents who complain student houses bring down the tone of their neighbourhoods and are the cause of antisocial behaviour, noise and parking problems.
Article 4 controls effectively stop landlords buying shared houses – termed as 'houses in multiple occupation' or HMOs under the Housing Act – because they are unsure when they buy a property whether the council will grant planning permission.
Several university cities are lining up to take on these powers – but students in St Andrew's, Oxford, York and Bath have allied with landlords and letting agents to protest against the moves.
St Andrew's students claim that article 4 powers are “social engineering” aimed at controlling where students can live.
"The proposed HMO ban amounts to nothing more than inept social engineering. It is wrong in principle, futile and even harmful in practice,” said St Andrew's University Students' Association President Owen Wilton.
"HMOs were introduced to ensure tenant safety not to enable local planners to shuffle communities around the map."
St Andrew's has just over a thousand HMOs housing about 4,000 students.
Oxford is at the forefront of the battle between landlords, students and the council. The city has about 5,000 shared student lets.
The council has already backed down from a tougher HMO licensing scheme – but is one of four councils – with Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Charnwood (Loughborough) and Milton Keynes – challenging the government's shared house planning policy in the High Court.
Other councils that have announced their intention to take up article 4 powers after a 12-month consultation period include Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
