Top 5 Oxford streets with Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) are revealed and residents aren't happy

Residents in Divinity Road are drawing a line and saying “enough is enough” after it emerged their street has the second highest number of house in multiple occupation (HMO) in Oxford.

Members of the Divinity Road Area Residents’ Association (DRARA) are demanding no more houses in multiple occupation (HMO) and tougher policing of landlords who let their tenants live in squalor.

Their comments come as the Oxford Mail reveals today the five streets which have the most shared properties across the city.

While Cowley Road topped the table of having the most HMOs with 466 people living in 85 HMOs, Divinity Road came in second place with 46 out of its 102 properties.

DRARA secretary Clare Ridley told the Oxford Mail that residents now do not want any more HMOs in their street.

Ms Ridley, who has lived in the street for nearly 16 years, said that landlords often let out the homes for high rents, but leave them in squalid conditions.

She added: “It’s a very real and hot topic for us because we don’t want any more in our area.

“The property quality is poor and badly maintained and people are paying extortionate amounts of rent in very squalid environments.

“The rents are just horrendous. Landlords don’t care about the community and it’s a nightmare when students don’t do their refuse properly. We get a big build up of rubbish.”

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request, seen by the Oxford Mail, showed that in November there were 1,831 HMOS in the city housing 8,807 tenants – typically students and professionals.

Juxon Street with 44 and Venneit Close with 36, both in Jericho, made up third and fourth, with Iffley Road’s 34 HMOs putting it in fifth place.

Since 2011 the city council has issued more than 3,440 HMO licences, processed more than 7,000 applications for new and existing licences, and carried out 19,746 visits to properties.

DRARA is urging the city council to properly licence and police the properties to make sure landlords comply with housing standards.

Ms Ridley said that while it was good the council had brought in tough licensing laws, it needed to make sure they were well policed.

She added: “We have now got a licence process but there’s very poor policing of it and maintenance of it.”

But Ms Ridley said that the street welcomed and valued the diversity HMOs bring to the community, and stressed their gripe was not about too many students.

City council leader Bob Price said the high cost of property in Oxford meant that a lot of professionals who want to get on the housing ladder end up in shared properties.

Mr Price stressed landlords have to meet certain standards to be granted a HMO status and said an estimated £3.5m of improvements have had to be carried out on properties applying for licences.

He added: “Obviously we get rogue cases and we take them to court and have been successful in getting large fines when the standards have dropped below what we expect.

“It’s a problem worth focusing on in social terms – if half our stock was private rented it would change the nature of the community quite significantly.

“An appropriate balance needs to be struck and at the moment I think we have that.”

A spokesman for Oxford City Council said: “The legacy of previous legislation has left parts of the city with a high density of HMOs. While properties housing more than six people need planning permission, those that were HMOs before February 2012 have remained exempt from this duty.

“A concentration of poorly managed HMOs creates social and environmental problems such as anti-social behaviour, waste and noise and this can impact on wider communities. To curb the concentration of HMOs, we do not grant planning permission where the proportion of such properties in an area as defined by our policy is more than 20 per cent.”

HIGH NUMBERS

Five streets with the highest number of HMOs:

1. Cowley Road: 85
2. Divinity Road: 46
3. Juxon Street: 44
4. Venneit Close: 36
5. Iffley Road: 34

• Cowley Road and Juxon Street are among the top 5 streets in Oxford with HMOs

‘THEY’RE A SOLUTION, NOT A PROBLEM’

HOUSING experts claim HMOs are part of the solution to Oxford’s property crisis, not part of the problem.

Frank Webster, director of Finders Keepers letting agency, insists Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) are vital for students and professionals wanting to live in Oxford.

Mr Webster said that the high property prices and rents in the city meant people would naturally find it easier to club together to find homes.

He added: “I think they are definitely part of the solution for professional sharers who want to live here. I wish there were more of them.”

His comments come as neighbours in Divinity Road call for tougher policing and licensing of properties in their road, where 46 of the 102 properties are HMOs.

But Mr Webster denied that landlords who own HMOs leave them to become squalid and stressed that managing a rented property is expensive and time consuming.

He stressed that a property in central Oxford with a current HMO license could add as much as £10,000 to £15,000 to the value of them home and was an investment.

Mr Webster said: “Most HMOs need to be actively managed because you have a lot of people living in the property, they need to be regularly checked.

“Landlords have to get it to standard. You have to work for it, jump through hoops, be compliant. That does come at a price.”

SO WHAT IS AN HMO?

A HOUSE in Multiple Occupation (HMO) is a property where three or more people who are not related live together.

The government’s guidelines stipulate that if the three or more tenants come from two or more households – are not related to each other – then the landlord must apply for an HMO licence.

A house is classed as an HMO if the tenants share a toilet, bathroom and kitchen facilities.

Large HMOs are houses at least three stories high with at least five tenants forming more than one household sharing toilets, bathrooms and kitchen facilities.

A family is defined as people who are married or living together – including same-sex relationships – and relatives including step-parents and siblings and half-relatives.

Landlords of HMOs must ensure that proper fire safety measures such as smoke detectors are in place, annual gas safety checks are carried out, electrics are checked every five years, and the property is not overcrowded.

They also have a duty to provide adequate cooking and washing facilities, communal areas and shared facilities are clean and in good repair and there are enough rubbish bins and bags.