A new government consultation aims to decrease the number of house-shares available.

The government has announced plans to decrease the number of houses of multiple occupation (HMOs), much to the anger of landlords and house-sharers, in an effort to curb incidents of anti-social behaviour.

According to the government, areas with a high concentration of HMOs – properties housing six or more unrelated people – increase amounts of noise and litter, while many are left empty over the summer period. Under the scheme, councils will be given the power to limit the number of HMOs available.

Campaigners against the proposal include landlords, the National Union of Students (NUS), and property developers. All are concerned that the move will decrease the amount of affordable housing available, which is heavily relied on by immigrants, students and young people.

Liz Peace, British Property Federation’s Chief Executive, said: “You can’t use the planning system for social engineering or to tackle anti-social behaviour. Only a tiny fraction of places suffer from high concentrations of HMOs and using a broad brush approach to deal with different issues relating to anti-social behaviour makes no sense.”

President of the NUS, Wes Streeting, not only defended students but also all house sharers. Describing the government’s move as a “headline-grabbing initiative”, he commented: “These proposals would marginalise students by forcing them to pay private companies to live in large ghettos away from the rest of the community. This would do nothing to improve community cohesion.”

A Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “Students bring benefits to the places they live in, but too many residing in one area can impact negatively on a community. This is a real problem in many communities across England, which is why Communities Secretary John Denham is committed to finding a long-term solution to current rental practices.”