Landlords operating shared houses for 3 or more people across Warwick district will now need to be licenced

The plans were voted through by Warwick District Council’s cabinet this week on the back of work to consider whether expanding the system already in place to meet national rules would be beneficial.

A house of multiple occupancy (HMOs) must be licenced by the local authority if five or more people that would not normally not live together as a family unit share accommodation.

Warwick District Council is now adding houses and flats that have three or four such people living together, or two or more if a flat is part of a block.

The council estimates there are around 1,400 HMOs across the district but only 600 currently require a licence.

Its report states: “A study of the available evidence indicates that a significant proportion of known non-licensable HMOs are being managed sufficiently ineffectively as to give rise to or likely to give rise to issues including fire safety, poor housing conditions or hazards, noise nuisance and ineffective waste management.

"It can also be inferred from the data that unknown non-licensable HMOs are also generating similar types of problems.

“Additional licensing offers an opportunity to bring all HMOs within the district up to a minimum standard, ensuring that those homes are well managed and maintained, safe and secure so as to contribute to the health and wellbeing of the occupiers and the wider neighbourhood.”

The proposals were broadly supported during a public consultation, particularly by residents who claim HMOs have been a nuisance in their areas.

Objectors included landlords who cited increased costs either being absorbed, increasing the chance of owners selling up and diminishing local housing stock, or passed on to renters.

Councillor Paul Wightman (Lab, Warwick All Saints & Woodloes), the district’s portfolio holder for housing, said: “This has been a long time coming.

"We fully recognise the efforts of the previous administration working on this for a long time, and the officers involved who have done a really good job.

“We often have a lot of contentious stuff here but there is a lot of cross-party support for this being a very good set of proposals.”

“Most importantly, it is in the interests of the tenants who live close to houses of multiple occupancy and matters of safety.

"It allows the council to have greater scrutiny of owners of houses of multiple occupancy and ensure they are fit for purpose.”