Housing Minister Grant Shapps has announced that councils will have greater flexibility to manage concentrations of shared housing in their area, without tying landlords in red tape.

A high concentration of shared homes can sometimes cause problems, especially if too many properties in one area are let to short term tenants with little stake in the local community.

So changes to legislation will give councils the freedom to choose areas where landlords must submit a planning application to rent their properties to unrelated tenants - known as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).

This will enable high concentrations of HMOs to be controlled where local authorities decide there is a problem, but will prevent landlords across the country being driven from the rental market by high costs and red tape.

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It is estimated that as many as 8,500 planning applications could be submitted each year if every landlord looking to turn their property into a HMO is first required to seek permission - instead, councils will be able to focus their efforts in particular neighbourhoods where HMOs present a problem, while landlords of HMOs in other areas will not be tied up in red tape.

Mr Shapps said: "Councils know about local issues with shared homes, and don't need top-down rules from Whitehall to deal with problems that don't exist. Where too many shared homes are causing problems for other residents or changing the character of a neighbourhood, councils should be able to control their spread. But I'm not going to create unnecessary costs for landlords, which puts the supply of rented homes at risk.

"That's why I'm giving councils the power to decide whether to use the planning system to control the spread of shared housing where it is a problem. This will give them the flexibility to make decisions that are right for their communities, rather than stifling the rental market with unnecessary costs and red tape.

"Shared homes ensure people who want to live and work in towns and cities can do so, and are vital to the economy. These changes will safeguard the supply of shared housing where it is needed without burdening landlords with cumbersome red tape - but will also hand councils the flexibility they need to tackle problems where they occur."

(CD/GK)