Cheer for landlords over shared property decision

The Government has announced plans to make it easier for landlords to rent out shared properties.

New legislation introduced in April requires landlords to obtain planning permission if they want to let a property to three or more tenants who are not related.

But housing minister Grant Shapps said the Government planned to change this so that individual councils could decide in which areas landlords needed to apply for planning permission if they wanted to rent out a property to multiple tenants.

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High concentrations of shared homes can cause problems in some areas, particularly if the properties are let to short-term tenants, such as students.

The Government said the move would enable local authorities to control where there were high concentrations of shared homes, but would reduce costs and red tape for landlords.

It is thought that up to 8,500 planning applications a year would have to be submitted by landlords if they needed to obtain planning permission for every property that was let out to multiple tenants.

Mr Shapps said: "Councils know about local issues with shared homes, and don't need top-down rules from Whitehall to deal with problems that don't exist.

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"Where too many shared homes are causing problems for other residents or changing the character of a neighbourhood, councils should be able to control their spread.

"But I'm not going to create unnecessary costs for landlords, which puts the supply of rented homes at risk."

The move, which should come into force in the autumn, was welcomed by trade bodies.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: "Grant Shapps has taken quick and decisive action after this law was rushed through in April without sufficient clarification."

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David Salusbury, chairman of the National Landlords Association, said: "The change in the law for shared housing was rushed.

"As a result, its implementation by councils has created uncertainty and confusion.

"We are pleased to see the new Government responding to calls to rethink these unnecessary planning burdens on landlords."