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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of (a) the potential impact of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) on (i) community cohesion and (ii) levels of anti-social behaviour, (b) the concentration of HMOs in specific areas and (c) whether additional planning powers should be made available to local authorities to manage those impacts.

My Department has not undertaken an assessment of the potential impact of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) on (i) community cohesion and (ii) levels of anti-social behaviour.

Local planning authorities already have planning powers to limit the concentration or proliferation of HMOs within their locality. They can remove the national permitted development right for smaller HMOs to protect the local amenity or wellbeing of an area by introducing an ‘Article 4’ direction which, once in place, requires all new HMO proposals to secure planning permission.

We keep the powers to regulate HMOs under review.