Council rejects extra controls over shared student houses

Councillors have kicked out plans to curb shared houses for students in Canterbury - for the time being. Canterbury City Council’s executive wants to see more evidence about the impact of houses in multiple occupation on local neighbourhoods before making any decisions. The Kent councillors were discussing their blueprint local plan - and threw out calls to add an article 4 direction to bring in planning controls for small HMOs. Small HMOs are homes for three to five unrelated tenants sharing a house. Larger shared houses, for six or more tenants, already come under strict planning and licensing controls. The decision was slammed by some councillors and residents groups, but supported by landlords and students. One group, the St Michael's Road Area Residents' Association claimed the council failed to act because landlords were bullying them with threats of a legal challenge to an article 4 direction. Meanwhile, Bournemouth Council, Dorset, is considering imposing additional licensing restrictions on all HMO properties in the town. The council is looking at options to control student HMOs in the Winton, Queen’s Park and Wallisdown neighbourhoods, where one in every 14 homes is a shared houses - a total of 1,020 HMOs, but only 60 are licensed. The council says the consultation is in response to two years of complaints from residents about student houses, including calls over anti social behaviour, rubbish and parking. The council also wants to extend a landlord accreditation scheme, which currently only has 47 members. The National Landlords Association is organising lobbying against additional licensing for local landlords. The campaign includes a protest campaign and meetings with the council. Another additional licensing consultation is underway in Newham, east London, where the Residential Landlords Association is leading landlord opposition.

Landlord blog

Sam Dickinson

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