Finders Keepers
12-07-2011, 10:28 AM
Oxford City Council is trying to ban & cut the number of homes for 'sharers' in Oxford.
It is proposing to a) limit sharer homes to 20% of a road or 100m stretch of a road, b) ban sharer homes in some parts of Oxford altogether.
A 'sharer' home is any home with 3+ people who are not a family. So three nurses living together are 'sharers'.
How can the Council do this? Because in 2012 two laws arrive:
- All HMOs require a licence of £1150, not just student homes
- The Council can use new planning laws to stop a home becoming an HMO
The Council is consulting on these changes in legislation and the deadline is the 22nd July. We urge you to respond.
Our concerns:
- Rents for sharers properties will rise as supply is reduced. We are already seeing landlords refusing to pay the £1150, see below.
- In Section A4.35-46 of the consultation the Council says it wants more Key Worker housing – by reducing the supply of HMOs there will be less.
- There is no discrimination between an 8 person home and a 3 person home which might have 2 bedrooms.
- There is no discrimination between students and full-time employed people.
- Only a small % of student houses are anti-social and normally this is due to poor property management.
- There is already a wide range of legislation to deal with anti-social households.
Respond to the Consultation
Write to the Planning Department at planningpolicy@oxford.gov.uk with your views.
It is proposing to a) limit sharer homes to 20% of a road or 100m stretch of a road, b) ban sharer homes in some parts of Oxford altogether.
A 'sharer' home is any home with 3+ people who are not a family. So three nurses living together are 'sharers'.
How can the Council do this? Because in 2012 two laws arrive:
- All HMOs require a licence of £1150, not just student homes
- The Council can use new planning laws to stop a home becoming an HMO
The Council is consulting on these changes in legislation and the deadline is the 22nd July. We urge you to respond.
Our concerns:
- Rents for sharers properties will rise as supply is reduced. We are already seeing landlords refusing to pay the £1150, see below.
- In Section A4.35-46 of the consultation the Council says it wants more Key Worker housing – by reducing the supply of HMOs there will be less.
- There is no discrimination between an 8 person home and a 3 person home which might have 2 bedrooms.
- There is no discrimination between students and full-time employed people.
- Only a small % of student houses are anti-social and normally this is due to poor property management.
- There is already a wide range of legislation to deal with anti-social households.
Respond to the Consultation
Write to the Planning Department at planningpolicy@oxford.gov.uk with your views.