HC Deb 07 November 1995 vol 265 cc735-6W
Mr. Jim Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the extent to which standards in houses in multiple occupation need to be improved; and what plans he has to set up a national registration scheme whereby landlords of such property would have to be licensed. [41055]

Mr. Clappison

An assessment of the need to improve standards in houses in multiple occupation was published in "Houses in Multiple Occupation—Consultation paper on the case for licensing", Department of the Environment, November 1994, and "Improving Standards in Houses in Multiple Occupation", Department of the Environment, July 1995. Copies of both are in the Library. I have no plans to set up a national licensing scheme.

Mr. Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to make mandatory grants available to landlords of houses in multiple occupation in order that they may improve the safety and the standards of health in their property. [41056]

Mr. Clappison

Proposals for changes to the house renovation grant system, which includes grants to landlords, are contained in the explanatory paper "The Future of Private Housing Renewal Programmes". A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

Mr. Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of current housing stock is made up of houses in multiple occupation. [41054]

Mr. Clappison

The definition of a house in multiple occupation is very wide and for statistical purposes is not capable of precision. In practice, there is considerable case law as to what constitutes an HMO and this will depend on the circumstances in each case. For the 1995 local authority HMO survey, the Department asked authorities to report the presence of six different HMO types, regardless of whether the LA considered them to be HMOs. The percentage of the current English housing stock in all of these types of HMO was found to be is 3.2 per cent., table 1 although more than half of these are buildings converted into self-contained flats which many authorities do not regard as true HMOs.

Total number of HMOs in England 1995
Type of HMO Number (Per cent, stock)
Traditional HMOs (houses converted into bedsits) 111,000 (0.5)
Shared houses/flats 100,000 (0.5)
Households with lodgers 41,000 (0.2)
Purpose-built HMOs 17,000 (0.1)
Hostels, guest houses, boarding houses, B and Bs 17,000 (0.1)
Buildings converted into self-contained flats 352,000 (1.8)
All types of HMO 638,000 (3.2)