Anger over house-share cuts plan

Landlords and the National Union of Students (NUS) have rejected government proposals to limit house-sharing.
The government may give councils the power to limit the number of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in one area.
Locals complained that too many HMOs lead to problems of anti-social behaviour as well as areas being left empty during holidays.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8192287.stm

Does this government ask anyone with more than two brain cells for any advice before issuing proposals.

[joglynne]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8192287.stm

Does this government ask anyone with more than two brain cells for any advice before issuing proposals.

No. and I think the two brain cells may be giving their advisers credit for 100% more intelligence than they actually have..

[mentalis]

Presumably this is the Government's plan to boost the housing market by increasing demand.

[Taf]

Students here are staying away from the delapidated, over-expensive HMOs and their immigrant landlords who flout all rules. Instead they flock to the new-build residences that spring up all over the place at a rapid rate.

That means large chunks of the city that used to support students are now filling with Eastern Europeans. That has caused many local businesses to fold, and some areas are becoming ghettos already.

This is the governments plan to win points with the older population at the expense of students. My Uni Town, Canterbury, had a extremely large student population which irradiated the elderly population. It wasn't so much noise because the Uni would be quite firm with complaints from the locals as were the police, not to mention the vast majority of students where respectful of their neighbours if they were not also students anyway.

It was mostly the amount of students, who basically owned the town during term time. Although they keep the town quite nice, student town usually are, nice niche shops, more bookshops, staff for the stores and so on.

Don't underestimate the willingness of 'resident associations' to lie. One of their complaints was that student's didn't take out their rubbish until they left Uni for the term. Meaning there were extra bags that the bin men would leave and hence litter all over the street. Not True. Because the council gave special collections at the end of term so all litter was collected.

In otherwords the government is trying to win votes at the expense of students. But then this government has often been more than happy to sell out youth for a vote-grab.

[joglynne]

Originally Posted by mentalis

Presumably this is the Government's plan to boost the housing market by increasing demand.

I am sure this is just another "How do we appear to be appeasing the disgruntled constituents so can we get votes?" stunt.

I have a couple of student areas near me and I doubt whether many of the people currently sharing a house would be in a position to afford accommodation as a single occupant. The government proposals may put more houses back into the market but where would all the displaced students live unless there are moves to also build more student accommodation?