The Liberal Democrats have welcomed B&NES Council’s plans to extend a licensing scheme for small Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) across the whole of Bath.
Councillors have also called for the scheme to be further expanded to North East Somerset.
Councillor Will Sandry, Lib Dem spokesperson on Housing said: “I’m proud that local Lib Dems introduced a licensing scheme for HMOs in 2014.
“At that time, the priority areas were Oldfield, Westmoreland and parts of Widcombe. The scheme worked and improvements in the safety and quality of housing in the private rented sector were delivered.
“It’s right that the scheme is now extended across the city. Lib Dems support this and so do Bath residents.
“We believe that the Council should go further and extend the scheme to the whole of Bath and North East Somerset.
“HMOs are an important part of the overall housing provision serving people looking for affordable housing options, including students.
“It’s vital that housing is of good quality and safe to live in. There are now many small HMOs in our market towns, such as Radstock and Keynsham, people living there should have the same protections as those living in Bath.”
Last year it was announced that new applications to convert properties into HMOs would be refused if more than 10% of properties in the local area were already in use as Houses of Multiple Occupation.
In addition, a new policy was adopted that prevented a residential non-HMO property from being ‘sandwiched’ between two HMOs.