Government proposals allowing councils to prevent people living in affordable shared houses have sparked furious opposition from landlords and students.

Ministers want to clamp down on houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) – homes rented by six or more unrelated people – as a part of a knee-jerk reaction to so-called ‘studentification’. Problems with anti-social behavior have arisen around high concentrations of HMOs, drawing complaints from locals about litter, noise and towns becoming empty during holidays.

Property experts say that using planning laws to restrict HMOs will raise rents and drive out the students, young professionals and immigrants who rent them because they are affordable. Local businesses, particularly those which rely on student business, also face being hit if students are driven out.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said, “You can’t use the planning system for social engineering or to tackle anti-social behavior. Only a tiny fraction of places suffer from a high concentrations of HMOs and using a broad brush approach to deal with different issues relating to anti-social behavior makes no sense. It’s vital that the property market is left flexible and we hope ministers will head our warnings and reconsider going down the legislative route.”

Wes Streeting, the President of the National Union of Students also commented, “Students live and work within their communities and contribute hugely to their local areas through charity work and campaigning on local issues, not to mention the massive boost they give to the local economy. These proposals would marginalize students by forcing them to pay private companies to live in large ghettos away from the rest of the community. This would do nothing to improve community cohesion.”