Word Of The Week

studentification

The HMO (Houses in multiple occupation) rules are an absolute disaster; it was never clear to anybody what they were supposed to achieve, apart from having an excuse to employ an army of council snoopers. As somebody pointed out to me once, the only really relevant elfin safety consideration with housing is fire and smoke.* Not only is this the least of our worries, in statistical terms, the people most likely to die in fires are children (who hide in wardrobes and then suffocate) and the elderly or disabled. And conversely, the people least likely to die in fires are healthy adults.

So if a house is let to one or two families with children, it is not an HMO (to be an HMO it has to be let to three unrelated tenants) and so there'd be no inspections for fire safety; conversely, if it is let to four unrelated adults, who are not really at risk, it will be inspected.

Furthermore, yes, I accept there are a lot of people living in fairly crap and/or expensive accommodation, but that is just the way the market works; if you deliberately restrict the supply of housing while simultaneously subsidising rents (via Housing Benefit) then people will end up overpaying.

* And gas or carbon monoxide leaks, but it has long been a requirement for landlords to have annual checks carried out in this regard, which is fair enough. What is a bloody outrage is the requirement for an annual check on electrical safety and the fact that every bit of metal (radiators, pipework etc) has to be 'cross bonded', which is a complete scam perpetrated by The Honourable Guild Of Electricians.