EMMA LEWELL-BUCK MP: Houses of Multiple Occupancy - the issues behind them explained

House of Multiple Occupancy are governed by licences given to landlords who are renting out their property to several unrelated people living together.

Used and enforced carefully, these licences give occupants protection from rogue landlords, poor quality accommodation and ensures they are safe in their homes.

But with the cost-of-living crisis biting hard, and with rents rising, residents who are perhaps vulnerable, in need of supported living or crammed into housing which is just far too small to accommodate them are causing knock-on problems for other residents in areas where numbers of HMOs are growing fast.

In South Shields where there is a large concentration of HMOs, myself and my team have heard multiple cases where residents are scared, unable to sleep at night, worried about their safety and even concerned about whether they will be able to sell their properties on in the future due to behaviour of some of the tenants in these properties. This rise in anti-social behaviour has included drug dealing, aggressive behaviour, excessive noise, and public urination. Not only is this bad for residents and the wider community but having people unwilling to adhere to the terms of their tenancy or support package offered will have a detrimental impact on others who live in the same HMO.

Where this is happening these properties require careful enforcement by the council who must engage with residents and ensure local voices are heard when granting and enforcing these licenses.

The wider issue clearly is that a lack of housing stock is causing demand for HMOs to skyrocket, and exploitative rental practices are damaging tenants and neighbours alike.

This Tory government has a lot to answer for.

After 13 years in power, the Tory record on housing now includes over 1 million households on the waiting list for social homes and over 100,000 stuck in limbo.

It is not just tenants who are the casualties of the Tory housing crisis and their broken promise to build 300,000 homes per year, it is our local residents and those stuck in HMOs having to deal with the consequences of a broken system.