The new coalition Government is changing its policy on the licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) on an almost daily basis, leading to a great deal of uncertainty locally, according to a local councillor.

Roger Pierce, who represents Hull Road ward, an area with a great number of HMOs due to its proximity to the University of York, said:

"All the good work of recent years to find a workable solution on HMOs has been undone in a stroke by the new Housing Minister, Grant Shapps. As recently as 10th June he made statement to the House of Commons saying the Government had no plans to overturn the rules introduced by the previous Government.

"Fast forward four days and a letter from the Minister's department to a lobbying group states that the current rules are not appropriate. It sounds very much like the landlords lobby has got to the Conservatives quickly after initial disappointment at the Government's stance on the issue.

"What will now happen is planning permission for HMOs will not be required unless the local council wants to tackle high concentrations of HMOs in a given area, but which will be made incredibly difficult by their needing to make article 4 directions - essentially making it much more costly, time-consuming and unlikely.

"But the Conservatives will always put landlords before homeowners and tenants".

Coun. Pierce says he's concerned about the impact this will have on the ward he represents and that many residents will see this as a major setback in attempts to protect their neighbourhoods from studentification.