Nottingham City Council today launched a consultation on the introduction of planning requirements for homes shared by 3 or more unrelated tenants. Local authorities were given powers by central government in 2010 and the consultation will run until 27th April 2011.

In an era of rising rents, these changes to legislation will not be good news for tenants already struggling to find affordable accommodation. Inevitably, some will be forced onto the black market as more and more landlords move away from, already scarce, shared accommodation. After reportedly failing to locate and licence hundreds of current HMO’s, the City Councils choice of taking on a huge potential new workload with little or no benefit to the council tax payer may leave some people confused as to the point of the exercise?

The proposed changes will come into force in 2012 if the consultation finds that there is a need.

Interested parties can find out more and get involved in the consultation here