Oxford City Council has become the first local authority to require every house in multiple occupation to be licensed. The council already licenses larger three storey HMOs that contain five or more tenants and over 600 HMO licences have already been issued, but an additional licensing scheme has been introduced which means every property classed as an HMO in the city will need to obtain a licence.

It is the first council in the country to introduce a HMO licensing scheme that covers the whole of its area and which requires every HMO to be licensed.

The scheme is being introduced in two phases. From 24th January 2011, all three or more storey HMOs in Oxford require a licence as will all two storey HMOs that contain five or more tenants. All remaining HMOs will require a licence from January 2012. It is estimated that this will involve licensing approximately 4000 properties in total.This will mean that landlords of all two storey or single storey HMOs that contain three or four occupiers and self contained flats that are HMOs will be required to obtain a licence to operate the property as an HMO.

Councillor Joe McManners, Board Member for Housing, said: “I am delighted that we have finally got the powers to improve every HMO in Oxford as they have long been recognised as being a particular problem in the city, too often providing the worst homes and in many cases being poorly managed.

“The private rented sector is hugely important to the residents of Oxford, not just in terms of providing much needed accommodation, but also with the impact that it can have on local communities, so licensing every HMO will help drive up standards for everyone.

Challenging the above comments, Ian Fletcher, Director of Policy at the British Property Federation said: "It is disappointing that a few local councils now feel the need to license all HMOs in their area, which may be within the letter of the law, but certainly not its spirit. These powers were given to tackle problems concentrated in small areas and to be applied proportionately as a last resort after considering all other options. Local authorities already have significant powers to tackle anti-social behaviour, litter, parking problems, etc. and should be using those rather than inflicting a significant cost and administrative burden on all HMO landlords across our towns and cities.

“Too often these powers are politically driven, with local politicians desperate to be seen to be doing something, regardless of whether it gets to the nub of the problem or not.