Letting agent groups are warning that the private rental sector is set to lose vital stock as the Government presses ahead with plans for minimum room sizes for Houses in Multiple Occupation.
The National Approved Lettings Scheme (NALS) and ARLA Propertymark have both said they understand the changes but have questioned whether they should go ahead.
HMO landlord Dhugal Clark has launched a petition calling for a parliamentary debate on minimum bedroom sizes that are set to be introduced in October through the the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) (England) Regulations 2018.
He warns that the changes – which sets a minimum bedroom size requirement at 6.51 square metres for a person aged ten years or over – will reduce the number of rooms available for tenants and mean those living in bigger properties will end up paying more council tax as well as higher rents.
David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark, said the proposals had been consulted on since 2016 and warned it was too late for a parliamentary debate but said the trade body has written to the previous housing ministers to question these changes.
He told EYE: “We have made verbal and written representations with the Government.
“We understand where the Government is coming from. They want everybody to live in good quality accommodation but a lot of older properties have boxrooms.
“There are always people willing to have a smaller room to save money on rent, this is going to take away those rooms and means the costs are shared by fewer people.
“People happy to live in a box room have to pay increased rent to live in a bigger room.
“Why does the Government feel it knows better than an individual making an informed decision based on the size of a room?”
Isobel Thomson, chief executive of NALS, added: “NALS would like to see more parliamentary debate over minimum room sizes in HMOs.
“While we understand Government’s aim is to improve some specific types of HMO accommodation in the sector, it’s important that common sense prevails. As it stands, the proposed changes will remove councils’ discretion to assess a property on its own merits, as they can now.
“This means we’ll lose much-needed accommodation from the PRS in what are otherwise decent and safe properties.”
View the petition:
This is Government making the housing crisis worse by using prescriptive regulations and takes choice away from the individuals in an effort to counter problems caused by insufficient supply to start with! Fact is Government is not addressing the problems it is accentuating them. It seems to have the mentality that it is better to put people on the street with no roof rather than let them have poor accommodation. Neither is the right solution! The answer is to provide social housing – remember all that accommodation councils asset stripped!!
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Couldn’t agree more, in fact, this Government are total hypocrites. In public they “say” they want to reduce homelessness and throw a pittance at it, but behind the scenes they are driving out Landlords and reducing capacity in the rental sector through massive tax increases, and new regulations/legislation. Legislation like the Homelessness Reduction Act is typical of this Government’s hypocrisy “we’ve passed a Law aren’t we the good guys,” as if passing a law will magically make everything OK. Then introduce minimum rooms sizes which reduces capacity, and increase rents.
The Government are turning the housing crisis into a catastrophe. Sadly, many innocent people mainly the poorest in our society are going to suffer very badly before there is a change in policy.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
We have a client who’s just asked for advice about his planning application to turn a house into flats which his local area/council are in desperate need of. Yet due to the minimum requirements of the planners he can’t turn a two storey 67sqm flat into a 2 bed, only a 1 bed because the minimum requirement is 70 Sqm for a 2 storey 2 bed.
It’s bonkers!
His got planning for a 1 bed but the demand and need is for a 2 bed.
If we are to solve the housing crisis then we also need some realism from govt.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Taking rooms out of the market will obviously exacerbate the housing shortage and cause homelessness. Then these people will be crammed into B and B rooms. Where are the regulations about that?
When you see the programme ‘slum landlords, rogue tenants’ (or whatever it’s called – I’ve deliberately swapped the word ‘rogue’ over!) the producers used to have the narrator call the council enforcing officers ‘angels.’ It was bizarre. They go into a house where 20 people are living on mattresses and they say ‘This is terrible, We are really caring (although we do this work for a salary and not out of the goodness of our hearts) and we hate that you have to live this way. You have to leave, but whoops, we don’t have anywhere for you to go.’ I’d like to know how many of these then go on the street. It’s not right that they should be taken advantage of – but you can see that lots of them are used to living up close with others and their main priority is to have a cheap roof over their heads. I lived in a tiny room in Croydon when I was working in my early 20s. I paid £25 a week – which was super cheap even then – and price was my main priority, so I was fine with it. Why should a person be forced by Government to pay more to live in something bigger that they don’t need?
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register