National HMO
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Welcome to the National HMO Lobby!

The National HMO Lobby is an association of some fifty community groups in thirty towns in all parts of the UK, who are concerned to ameliorate the impact of concentrations of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) on their communities.

The government estimated in 2004 that there were about 640,000 HMOs in England alone. If they are not properly managed, they can give rise to a whole range of problems. Poor management of individual HMOs can give rise to problems for tenants and neighbours. Poor management of numbers of HMOs can give rise to problems for whole communities.

The Campaign for Bedsit Rights, lately run by Shelter, has advocated the tenants' cause. Council officers who have to oversee HMOs are represented by the National HMO Network. Neighbourhoods are represented by our National HMO Lobby.

Many of our objectives have now been achieved. The Housing Act 2004 introduced mandatory licensing of larger HMOs (and the government is currently consulting on delegating discretionary licensing to local councils in England). And in 2010, the government agreed to changing the Use Classes Order, so that HMOs will require planning permission. See 'What is a HMO?' for the current status of HMOs in the UK.

The National HMO Lobby proposes sustainable communities. The Lobby therefore opposes concentrations of HMOs in general (as a unique threat to the sustainability of communities) and studentification in particular (as the principal cause and effect of HMO concentrations) - see our publication Balanced Communities & Studentification.

The pages on this website outline who we are, and what we do. The pages about the Lobby itself outline our composition and constitution, our Aims, our Constitution, our Members and their Regional Organisation, and a History of our activity, including Papers produced. The pages on Lobbying record National Developments and our national campaigning on key issues, like the Use Classes Order and HMO Licensing and Students & Communities.

If your community shares our concerns about poor management of HMOs in neighbourhoods - do join us. Email the National HMO Lobby at <hmolobby@hotmail.com>, or write to us c/o Cardigan Centre, 145 Cardigan Road, Leeds LS6 1LJ.

National HMO Lobby
email: hmolobby@hotmail.com website: www.hmolobby.org.uk