Housing and Planning Minister John Healey today announced new local powers to control the spread of high concentrations of shared rented homes and to tackle pockets of unsafe and substandard accommodation run by bad landlords.

The announcement follows his visit to Withington and Fallowfield, one of the UK's HMO hotspots, in December with Labour's candidate for Withington Lucy Powell, who has led a campaign for action against rogue landlords.

Mr Healey confirmed new powers for local councils to manage the unplanned spread of Houses in Multiple Occupation (or an HMO) in towns and cities. The cluster of too many shared houses can sometimes cause problems, especially if too many properties in one area are let to short term residents with little stake in the local community. Tenants can also suffer from poor conditions and management of the properties by landlords. 
During his visit to Manchester Mr Healey met local residents and was shown first hand the impact on the local community in South Manchester of high numbers of unregulated HMO's.  Amongst those Mr Healey met were Joan and Patrick Galvin of Withington who invited him in for a cup of tea.  (Pictured)

John Healey, said:
“Today I am giving councils more local powers to crack down on the worst landlords and stop the spread of high concentrations of shared homes where it causes problems for other residents or changes the character of a neighbourhood.

"Lucy has been campaigning for more powers and I was grateful to her for making me aware of the issues in Manchester."

Lucy Powell said:
"This announcement is great news.  The new powers will give Manchester City Council the ability to stop the spread of HMO's further into residential areas in South Manchester.  In Withington we have seen a massive change over recent years with family houses being bought by bad landlords to the detriment of the local area.  Students will also benefit from these measures as we attempt to drive up standards in the private rented sector.

"Local residents have come together over recent years to demand action and I'm delighted that we have been able to deliver."