The new Liberal Democrat administration has moved to regulate houses in multiple occupation.
Shared housing (HMOs), used by students and young professionals, is generally in Oldfield Park, but a number of homes in Bathwick and on Claverton Down have been converted in recent years. Rented HMOs provide affordable housing to thousands of Bath residents, but their proliferation has caused problems in some parts of the city.
The Lib Dems are investigating methods to better regulate HMOs to drive up standards and drive out poor landlords leading to safer and better maintained houses. They have also allocated funding to formulate changes to planning policy.
An Article 4 Directive allows councils to depart from national planning policy, in this instance Use Class Orders. Current planning policy does not distinguish between the uses of family and shared homes, allowing legal conversion in any circumstance. By changing the local application of Use Classes through an Article 4 Directive, the council will bforce prospective landlords to apply for planning permission before converting a single dwelling to an HMO. This will allow local residents to respond to such applications and argue against where it would have damage to their community.
[…] Additional licensing would allow the Council to ensure that HMOs meet minimum standards to protect the occupants in terms of health, safety and welfare. It would also help improve management of these properties which is beneficial not only for the occupants of HMOs but also for the wider community and, provide consistent standards for landlords. This is in addition to, and separate from, the related issue of restricting planning permission for shared housing. […]