HMO’s

I spoke at the Students Representative council this week. They made it clear that they do not want quota’s on the numbers of flats in tenements being shared by people not related to each other (HMO’s) allowed in designated areas of the city. They see that as an attack on students. Later on in the week I heard from Community Councils that cover the areas student live in who were equally adamant that we need to impose quotas not simply because of alleged clashes of lifestyle but also because with so many properties being let, maintaining the overall fabric of the tenements (which are often over 100 years old) is proving impossible. Which ever way we jump, there will be many people unhappy. Who’d be a politician! We have to find a solution however, and fast. Yet, as is the case with the need for traffic calming which is the consequence of the actions of a few idiots, we are having to find a legislative mechanism to cope with the fact that some folk just won’t take account of others around them, in this case mostly, though not entirely, a minority of landlords for whom the income is fine but the responsibility is a hassle they’d rather not think about.