Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the conversion of a single property into a house of multiple occupancy increases the overall number of properties within the Government's housing stock figures.

The conversion of an existing residential property into a house of multiple occupancy would not normally count as a net additional dwelling in the official statistics on housing supply or dwelling stock estimates.

Data for the housing supply release is collected from local authorities and the Greater London Authority (for London Boroughs). The official guidance for the data return is that a House in Multiple Occupation, cannot be counted as a net additional dwelling, as the house would have been counted as a net additional dwelling in a previous year.

However, if a House in Multiple Occupation is created by change of use from a non-residential building, then it can be counted as one net additional dwelling.

The official guidance can be found on gov.uk here.