ROOF Blog

Thousands of tenants, students and buy-to-let investors will be hit by new laws forcing landlords to apply for planning permission if they want to rent a property to three or more people. Landlord associations have criticised the Government’s proposals, which will bring down from six to three the number of unrelated people who can rent a property together before planning permission is needed from local authorities. The legislation will affect only properties that register for a ‘change of use’ (for example, converting a family home into flats), and will not affect pre-existing houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) that are rented out to three or more tenants. There are more than 400,000 registered HMOs, and these will fall within the new legislation only if their landlords change the tenancy arrangements.

The government has announced that financial support to students will be frozen next year because of ‘difficult economic times’. The decision has been described as a ‘kick in the teeth’ for young people who argue the cap in grants and loans represented a real term cut and would increase student debt level.

A consultation into the Town and Country Planning Act concerning homes in multiple occupancy (HMOs) was launched yesterday. The department for Communities and Local Government wants to identify ways of improving the problems occurring in areas with a high density of HMOs, such as antisocial behaviour and litter. The prospect of tighter legislation has not been well received.

New figures have shown that student rents have increased by an average of 19 per cent during the past five years, and 1.5 per cent since April 2008, despite the economic downturn. During the same period rental rates in the mainstream market have fallen by 6 per cent on average, although some London boroughs are particularly hard hit with falls of up to 18 per cent.