Southampton landlords attack new rules to curb student ghettos (From Romsey Advertiser)

Many landlords are not struggling at all, absolute rubbish, their greed for poor quality accommodation done dirt cheap knows no bounds.
We all know who they are.

Students are not always the perpetrators!

like with any group of people you get your bad eggs, and this does not represent the student population as a whole.

Surely these restrictions are worth nothing unless they also prevent subdivision of the properties into flats without planning consent?

What is the position on this?

I imagine it would still require planning consent, but such consent would be easier to achieve as the planning board would not have to have regard to the rules on HMO's?

Time to close this loophole quickly, if it exists, before a coach and horses is driven through the restrictions

Sotonians_lets_pull_
together wrote:
Surely these restrictions are worth nothing unless they also prevent subdivision of the properties into flats without planning consent?

What is the position on this?

I imagine it would still require planning consent, but such consent would be easier to achieve as the planning board would not have to have regard to the rules on HMO's?

Time to close this loophole quickly, if it exists, before a coach and horses is driven through the restrictions

It means it would be a separate property and if liable for council tax the tenant would have to pay it, but it also means the tenant would have to have all his/her own facilities, kitchen, bathroom ect, so in practice this could never work.

If an area of housing is going to be for cheap rented accomodation, I would prefer it to be filled with students, than flats rented to individual tenants.

Landlords like students as they are around for a fixed period, and leave, and have low expectations, but generally are pretty reasonable in how they look after the property.

The people wishing to restrict students from renting near them may regret their decisions if their neighbourhoods are filled with cheap bedsit flats instead...

bigfella777 wrote:

Sotonians_lets_pull_

together wrote:
Surely these restrictions are worth nothing unless they also prevent subdivision of the properties into flats without planning consent?

What is the position on this?

I imagine it would still require planning consent, but such consent would be easier to achieve as the planning board would not have to have regard to the rules on HMO's?

Time to close this loophole quickly, if it exists, before a coach and horses is driven through the restrictions

It means it would be a separate property and if liable for council tax the tenant would have to pay it, but it also means the tenant would have to have all his/her own facilities, kitchen, bathroom ect, so in practice this could never work.

Thanks, interesting.

Are the new rules already in force now?

Sotonians_lets_pull_
together wrote:

bigfella777 wrote:

Sotonians_lets_pull_


together wrote:
Surely these restrictions are worth nothing unless they also prevent subdivision of the properties into flats without planning consent?

What is the position on this?

I imagine it would still require planning consent, but such consent would be easier to achieve as the planning board would not have to have regard to the rules on HMO's?

Time to close this loophole quickly, if it exists, before a coach and horses is driven through the restrictions

It means it would be a separate property and if liable for council tax the tenant would have to pay it, but it also means the tenant would have to have all his/her own facilities, kitchen, bathroom ect, so in practice this could never work.

Thanks, interesting.

Are the new rules already in force now?

Only HMO's need to be licensed, self contained properties are different but still need planning consent.There are loads of HMO's in Southampton that are not licensed anyway, the fine if you are caught is menial and I don't think anyone has ever even been caught that's why they will do it as long as they can.

"Southampton Labour MP Alan Whitehead called for a lower cap across the city and predicted a “glut” of conversions of family homes into HMOs in the city centre that would put even more pressure on local communities".

Why didn't he try do something when he was in office? Students should have purpose built dedicated accommodation, not take valuable accommodation that families could use.

Home Rule for England wrote:
"Southampton Labour MP Alan Whitehead called for a lower cap across the city and predicted a “glut” of conversions of family homes into HMOs in the city centre that would put even more pressure on local communities".

Why didn't he try do something when he was in office? Students should have purpose built dedicated accommodation, not take valuable accommodation that families could use.

Actually Labour did, after years of lobbying, create the necessary legislation just before they were voted out. This was repealed by Camoron immediately on taking office, probably after a dinner party with rich property owning party donors.

The new rules will be a hot topic at a Southampton Property Investors Network (PIN) meeting on April 3 at the Hilton, in Chilworth.

To book go to www.pinSouthampton.c
o.uk

Home Rule for England wrote:
"Southampton Labour MP Alan Whitehead called for a lower cap across the city and predicted a “glut” of conversions of family homes into HMOs in the city centre that would put even more pressure on local communities".

Why didn't he try do something when he was in office? Students should have purpose built dedicated accommodation, not take valuable accommodation that families could use.

Where would you put all this purpose built accommodation? Recently it seems that when new housing is proposed residents in that area are always up in arms, and want to reject it. So it could be assumed they would be even more opposed to purpose built student accommodation.

It would seem this is a battle no one can really win. Will the local takeaways, pubs etc that students use in the most populated areas not start complaining of a lack of trade as a load of their trade has been moved elsewhere by the new restrictions? Do you really think the families that replace the students will spend the same amount in these establishments?

mellowdude wrote:

Home Rule for England wrote:
"Southampton Labour MP Alan Whitehead called for a lower cap across the city and predicted a “glut” of conversions of family homes into HMOs in the city centre that would put even more pressure on local communities".

Why didn't he try do something when he was in office? Students should have purpose built dedicated accommodation, not take valuable accommodation that families could use.

Where would you put all this purpose built accommodation? Recently it seems that when new housing is proposed residents in that area are always up in arms, and want to reject it. So it could be assumed they would be even more opposed to purpose built student accommodation.

It would seem this is a battle no one can really win. Will the local takeaways, pubs etc that students use in the most populated areas not start complaining of a lack of trade as a load of their trade has been moved elsewhere by the new restrictions? Do you really think the families that replace the students will spend the same amount in these establishments?

If you were one of the indigenous Polygon residents suffering constant noise and littering by the student residents of the HMOs you would adopt a differing attitude. When I was at Imperial College ALL the halls of residence were on campus and the locals suffered no disruption, there is no reason for the unis in Southampton not to do the same, except they are prepared to take the students money, but not prepareed to invest in their safety and well being. The three bed houses in the Polygon, Portswood and Swaythling area should be returned to family accommodation of which there is a serious shortage in the city, with about 15000 applicants on the housing list.

Well maybe Solent University could buy the old chantry hall land & build student accommodation there/
I think Whiteheads an idiot. A glut of HMO's in the town cehtre?
has he actually visited the town centre?
There are many HMO's/bedsits in that area & the new proposals would restrict the amount in any area.
We have the new student village by the train station planned now let's find a few sites to build more so we can get back family homes.
I hate developers so I don't feel sorry for them at all watch Homes Under The Hammer where they over bid couples trying to buy their first homes so they can destroy a family home to convert it into many flats or HMO's.
I hope this deters them & many HMO's go back to being family homes

Landlords struggling what a joke, there are many more tenants struggling with properties their landlords fail to repair.
Southampton City Council are a disgrace having received 572 complaints they have failed to prosecute any landlord.
I trust Cllr Daniel Fitzhenry will investigate who is responsible for this failure?

This issue should not be about bashing the students, because like most other sectors of society most are good and few may be bad, but it should be about putting an end to exploitation of all tenants through overcrowding by shark landlords
.
Rather than complaining about new rules to curb overcrowding, various organisations of landlords could do better by condemning many lousy landlords who only bring bad name to very few comparatively decent people who are also in the business of letting properties
.
These people are making massive profits, some of which could easily be spent on improving the accommodations, which could not only contribute towards better quality of life for tenants but also increase the value of properties
.
Pity whatever little was achieved under the last NuLabour government to solve this problem; the current ConDem Coalition has undone that. So if local Council is seriously going to act on this issue it should be welcomed. But Council failing to take action against landlords despite hundreds of complaints, as reported, makes me wonder if this is serious step in the right direction or yet one more Southampton Council’s pie in the sky.

Inform Al wrote:

mellowdude wrote:

Home Rule for England wrote:
"Southampton Labour MP Alan Whitehead called for a lower cap across the city and predicted a “glut” of conversions of family homes into HMOs in the city centre that would put even more pressure on local communities".

Why didn't he try do something when he was in office? Students should have purpose built dedicated accommodation, not take valuable accommodation that families could use.

Where would you put all this purpose built accommodation? Recently it seems that when new housing is proposed residents in that area are always up in arms, and want to reject it. So it could be assumed they would be even more opposed to purpose built student accommodation.

It would seem this is a battle no one can really win. Will the local takeaways, pubs etc that students use in the most populated areas not start complaining of a lack of trade as a load of their trade has been moved elsewhere by the new restrictions? Do you really think the families that replace the students will spend the same amount in these establishments?

If you were one of the indigenous Polygon residents suffering constant noise and littering by the student residents of the HMOs you would adopt a differing attitude. When I was at Imperial College ALL the halls of residence were on campus and the locals suffered no disruption, there is no reason for the unis in Southampton not to do the same, except they are prepared to take the students money, but not prepareed to invest in their safety and well being. The three bed houses in the Polygon, Portswood and Swaythling area should be returned to family accommodation of which there is a serious shortage in the city, with about 15000 applicants on the housing list.

As many people have said, not all students are bad, its just the minority tarnishing the image of the majority.

In the area I live in, Howard road/Archers road area, there is noise and litter. Is it from students... no, there arent many living in this area. The noise comes from children not kept under control by their parents, and the litter is not from anyone in particular.

Whilst its not as bad as the polygon area, its not good either. So I would welcome the well behaved students instead of the noisy families, if you wanted to swap some neighbors and then see how you feel.

mellowdude wrote:

Inform Al wrote:

mellowdude wrote:

Home Rule for England wrote:
"Southampton Labour MP Alan Whitehead called for a lower cap across the city and predicted a “glut” of conversions of family homes into HMOs in the city centre that would put even more pressure on local communities".

Why didn't he try do something when he was in office? Students should have purpose built dedicated accommodation, not take valuable accommodation that families could use.

Where would you put all this purpose built accommodation? Recently it seems that when new housing is proposed residents in that area are always up in arms, and want to reject it. So it could be assumed they would be even more opposed to purpose built student accommodation.

It would seem this is a battle no one can really win. Will the local takeaways, pubs etc that students use in the most populated areas not start complaining of a lack of trade as a load of their trade has been moved elsewhere by the new restrictions? Do you really think the families that replace the students will spend the same amount in these establishments?

If you were one of the indigenous Polygon residents suffering constant noise and littering by the student residents of the HMOs you would adopt a differing attitude. When I was at Imperial College ALL the halls of residence were on campus and the locals suffered no disruption, there is no reason for the unis in Southampton not to do the same, except they are prepared to take the students money, but not prepareed to invest in their safety and well being. The three bed houses in the Polygon, Portswood and Swaythling area should be returned to family accommodation of which there is a serious shortage in the city, with about 15000 applicants on the housing list.

As many people have said, not all students are bad, its just the minority tarnishing the image of the majority.

In the area I live in, Howard road/Archers road area, there is noise and litter. Is it from students... no, there arent many living in this area. The noise comes from children not kept under control by their parents, and the litter is not from anyone in particular.

Whilst its not as bad as the polygon area, its not good either. So I would welcome the well behaved students instead of the noisy families, if you wanted to swap some neighbors and then see how you feel.

I don't live in the Polygon area but about a year ago at the request of one of the indiginous residents I walked the area up to about 4 am on a Wednesday morning. I still have the DVD I made. It was at least mostly students creating the havoc up to 4 am when I had to go home. I suspect the students these days do not have lectures in the morning as none I saw would have been fit before at least midday. There are others, not students, in parts of the city that also misbehave, however they appear not to play in the streets till early morning up to the time most working people would be expecting to get up to go to work. When I was studying at their age, I too wanted to play all night but morning lectures and the halls of residence being on campus meant we did not upset our South Kensington neighbours. It is an unfortunate reality that in some parts of the city it is students causing the trouble, that is not to condemn all students as just as there are good and bad in all of us, the same applies to students.

Inform Al wrote:

mellowdude wrote:

Inform Al wrote:

mellowdude wrote:

Home Rule for England wrote:
"Southampton Labour MP Alan Whitehead called for a lower cap across the city and predicted a “glut” of conversions of family homes into HMOs in the city centre that would put even more pressure on local communities".

Why didn't he try do something when he was in office? Students should have purpose built dedicated accommodation, not take valuable accommodation that families could use.

Where would you put all this purpose built accommodation? Recently it seems that when new housing is proposed residents in that area are always up in arms, and want to reject it. So it could be assumed they would be even more opposed to purpose built student accommodation.

It would seem this is a battle no one can really win. Will the local takeaways, pubs etc that students use in the most populated areas not start complaining of a lack of trade as a load of their trade has been moved elsewhere by the new restrictions? Do you really think the families that replace the students will spend the same amount in these establishments?

If you were one of the indigenous Polygon residents suffering constant noise and littering by the student residents of the HMOs you would adopt a differing attitude. When I was at Imperial College ALL the halls of residence were on campus and the locals suffered no disruption, there is no reason for the unis in Southampton not to do the same, except they are prepared to take the students money, but not prepareed to invest in their safety and well being. The three bed houses in the Polygon, Portswood and Swaythling area should be returned to family accommodation of which there is a serious shortage in the city, with about 15000 applicants on the housing list.

As many people have said, not all students are bad, its just the minority tarnishing the image of the majority.

In the area I live in, Howard road/Archers road area, there is noise and litter. Is it from students... no, there arent many living in this area. The noise comes from children not kept under control by their parents, and the litter is not from anyone in particular.

Whilst its not as bad as the polygon area, its not good either. So I would welcome the well behaved students instead of the noisy families, if you wanted to swap some neighbors and then see how you feel.

I don't live in the Polygon area but about a year ago at the request of one of the indiginous residents I walked the area up to about 4 am on a Wednesday morning. I still have the DVD I made. It was at least mostly students creating the havoc up to 4 am when I had to go home. I suspect the students these days do not have lectures in the morning as none I saw would have been fit before at least midday. There are others, not students, in parts of the city that also misbehave, however they appear not to play in the streets till early morning up to the time most working people would be expecting to get up to go to work. When I was studying at their age, I too wanted to play all night but morning lectures and the halls of residence being on campus meant we did not upset our South Kensington neighbours. It is an unfortunate reality that in some parts of the city it is students causing the trouble, that is not to condemn all students as just as there are good and bad in all of us, the same applies to students.

At 4-00 am hoe can you tell the difference between young residents of Southampton and students ...... Just curious

Property Investors Network supports good landlords, good student accommodation, and good practice generally.
.
Find out more at www.pinSouthampton.c
o.uk
.
Come along on Tuesday 3rd April and find out more about Article 4 and how it will affect Southampton lettings ... most of which isn't for students.

Lone Ranger. wrote:

Inform Al wrote:

mellowdude wrote:

Inform Al wrote:

mellowdude wrote:

Home Rule for England wrote:
"Southampton Labour MP Alan Whitehead called for a lower cap across the city and predicted a “glut” of conversions of family homes into HMOs in the city centre that would put even more pressure on local communities".

Why didn't he try do something when he was in office? Students should have purpose built dedicated accommodation, not take valuable accommodation that families could use.

Where would you put all this purpose built accommodation? Recently it seems that when new housing is proposed residents in that area are always up in arms, and want to reject it. So it could be assumed they would be even more opposed to purpose built student accommodation.

It would seem this is a battle no one can really win. Will the local takeaways, pubs etc that students use in the most populated areas not start complaining of a lack of trade as a load of their trade has been moved elsewhere by the new restrictions? Do you really think the families that replace the students will spend the same amount in these establishments?

If you were one of the indigenous Polygon residents suffering constant noise and littering by the student residents of the HMOs you would adopt a differing attitude. When I was at Imperial College ALL the halls of residence were on campus and the locals suffered no disruption, there is no reason for the unis in Southampton not to do the same, except they are prepared to take the students money, but not prepareed to invest in their safety and well being. The three bed houses in the Polygon, Portswood and Swaythling area should be returned to family accommodation of which there is a serious shortage in the city, with about 15000 applicants on the housing list.

As many people have said, not all students are bad, its just the minority tarnishing the image of the majority.

In the area I live in, Howard road/Archers road area, there is noise and litter. Is it from students... no, there arent many living in this area. The noise comes from children not kept under control by their parents, and the litter is not from anyone in particular.

Whilst its not as bad as the polygon area, its not good either. So I would welcome the well behaved students instead of the noisy families, if you wanted to swap some neighbors and then see how you feel.

I don't live in the Polygon area but about a year ago at the request of one of the indiginous residents I walked the area up to about 4 am on a Wednesday morning. I still have the DVD I made. It was at least mostly students creating the havoc up to 4 am when I had to go home. I suspect the students these days do not have lectures in the morning as none I saw would have been fit before at least midday. There are others, not students, in parts of the city that also misbehave, however they appear not to play in the streets till early morning up to the time most working people would be expecting to get up to go to work. When I was studying at their age, I too wanted to play all night but morning lectures and the halls of residence being on campus meant we did not upset our South Kensington neighbours. It is an unfortunate reality that in some parts of the city it is students causing the trouble, that is not to condemn all students as just as there are good and bad in all of us, the same applies to students.

At 4-00 am hoe can you tell the difference between young residents of Southampton and students ...... Just curious

Simples, I spoke to some of them.

Thankfully here in Highfield a lot of the houses are too expensive for absentee landlords to plunder but friends living in roads off Welbeck Ave are really affected by this. Students need to be told they'll have to stay in halls for at leasts years 1 and 3 and hopefully the landlords will have to sell up and let families back into the areas.

You should look at all the slums in Portswood what a low life area!

Inform Al wrote:

Lone Ranger. wrote:

Inform Al wrote:

mellowdude wrote:

Inform Al wrote:

mellowdude wrote:

Home Rule for England wrote:
"Southampton Labour MP Alan Whitehead called for a lower cap across the city and predicted a “glut” of conversions of family homes into HMOs in the city centre that would put even more pressure on local communities".

Why didn't he try do something when he was in office? Students should have purpose built dedicated accommodation, not take valuable accommodation that families could use.

Where would you put all this purpose built accommodation? Recently it seems that when new housing is proposed residents in that area are always up in arms, and want to reject it. So it could be assumed they would be even more opposed to purpose built student accommodation.

It would seem this is a battle no one can really win. Will the local takeaways, pubs etc that students use in the most populated areas not start complaining of a lack of trade as a load of their trade has been moved elsewhere by the new restrictions? Do you really think the families that replace the students will spend the same amount in these establishments?

If you were one of the indigenous Polygon residents suffering constant noise and littering by the student residents of the HMOs you would adopt a differing attitude. When I was at Imperial College ALL the halls of residence were on campus and the locals suffered no disruption, there is no reason for the unis in Southampton not to do the same, except they are prepared to take the students money, but not prepareed to invest in their safety and well being. The three bed houses in the Polygon, Portswood and Swaythling area should be returned to family accommodation of which there is a serious shortage in the city, with about 15000 applicants on the housing list.

As many people have said, not all students are bad, its just the minority tarnishing the image of the majority.

In the area I live in, Howard road/Archers road area, there is noise and litter. Is it from students... no, there arent many living in this area. The noise comes from children not kept under control by their parents, and the litter is not from anyone in particular.

Whilst its not as bad as the polygon area, its not good either. So I would welcome the well behaved students instead of the noisy families, if you wanted to swap some neighbors and then see how you feel.

I don't live in the Polygon area but about a year ago at the request of one of the indiginous residents I walked the area up to about 4 am on a Wednesday morning. I still have the DVD I made. It was at least mostly students creating the havoc up to 4 am when I had to go home. I suspect the students these days do not have lectures in the morning as none I saw would have been fit before at least midday. There are others, not students, in parts of the city that also misbehave, however they appear not to play in the streets till early morning up to the time most working people would be expecting to get up to go to work. When I was studying at their age, I too wanted to play all night but morning lectures and the halls of residence being on campus meant we did not upset our South Kensington neighbours. It is an unfortunate reality that in some parts of the city it is students causing the trouble, that is not to condemn all students as just as there are good and bad in all of us, the same applies to students.

At 4-00 am hoe can you tell the difference between young residents of Southampton and students ...... Just curious

Simples, I spoke to some of them.

Thanks ... i was only curious

Maybe a bit more time looking into improving schools would bring families to the areas noted.

Those noted as campaigning against HMO properties above are all landlords.

If a married couple wanted to rent out their two spare bedrooms whats the rules here as there would be three (or four if the couple are not married) unrelated persons in the same dwelling?

dolomiteman wrote:
If a married couple wanted to rent out their two spare bedrooms whats the rules here as there would be three (or four if the couple are not married) unrelated persons in the same dwelling?

I would assume they wouldn't be overly affected. If they owned and lived in the property it is a bit different. If the couple rented the property to start with, a lot have rules preventing sub letting anyway.

In my opinion, its about time too!

I have nothing against students and know for a fact that not all that live in these properties are students, but the point is these are homes that could be used for families. This pushes up the prices to buy the properties.

Most of these landlords are just get-rich-quick parasites. The money they take in rent pays for more mortgages, so they end up with more and more houses.

Let's get this straight I'm not anti student!
I am a realist & I can think back to when I was their age.
Some could go to a Uni close to where they live but they opt to move away to experience the student life.
this is for many working hard & playing hard & who can blame them.
In the US they have frat houses & they can party with out upsetting any neighbours as it's usually on campus.
What I suggest is satellite villages with it's own security if the students want to go into town they will need to take their student card to get back in.
This would make it safer for them & if they wanted to bring in friends they would have to sign them in & vouch for them.
This should free up properties around the city.
people besides students in HMO's might be able to find a decent home to buy or as a knock on effect of people moving from rented flats these people might get a decent rentable flat.
with out the students to fill their properties the developers/landlords would have to rent at lower rents or sell them so the times of plenty would be over for them & private rental would become affordable again

Rob444 wrote:
Most of these landlords are just get-rich-quick parasites. The money they take in rent pays for more mortgages, so they end up with more and more houses.

Buy a house for say £120,000 split it into three flats get £800 a month rent for two bedroom & £500-£600 for the two one bedroomed flats maybe put in a studio & charge £500 a month.( I know because I looked into private rental) so you could be looking at £2,500 a month or £30,000 a year five years later your making nothing but profit then you might take a bit longer as your cash cow is a bit leaner so you cry hardship?
I might be a true blue ( tory) but I can't stand seeing the area I lived in ( brought up in) being turned into flat & HMO city

i know for a fact some of these so-called"planning consultants" are in fact former local council planning personnel made redundant in recent local cutbacks and would in their original employment have opposed these applications, now they will charge potential landlords £1500 upwards for their services, hypocritical or what?

the current lot of UoS students are so unbelievably middle class, of course they want to live in great big Georgian/Victorian houses rather than halls with all the rules, regulations and weirdo neighbours.

I have a strong personal view on this. Seems to me HMO are dominated by students and young working adults often from abroad.

It is natural these groups cluster round the university and city centre where the jobs are. If you want to spread these groups out as the Tories seem to wish you need to address day/night transport links to make other areas attractive. That said I remember my student days and remember well part of student experience was shared living with mates in 2nd/3rd year and learning to budget deal with neighbours etc. I wouldn't want to see that aspect lost as it sets these young adults up for life as neighbourly neighbours

SotonGreen wrote:
I have a strong personal view on this. Seems to me HMO are dominated by students and young working adults often from abroad.

It is natural these groups cluster round the university and city centre where the jobs are. If you want to spread these groups out as the Tories seem to wish you need to address day/night transport links to make other areas attractive. That said I remember my student days and remember well part of student experience was shared living with mates in 2nd/3rd year and learning to budget deal with neighbours etc. I wouldn't want to see that aspect lost as it sets these young adults up for life as neighbourly neighbours

Couldn't they do that in a village of all age students?
the problem is that a house turns into HMO's & they're loud & a bit over the top so if that house next door can get a buyer they move & usually the buyer is another developer & another HMO is born so slowly an area that was a good family/all age neighbourhood becomes HMO city & I want to see homes for families not blocks of tiny flats