Reports that flat and house sharing is in terminal decline across the UK today met with fierce criticism from members of the Residential Landlords Association.

The organisation, which represents landlords who control more than £1.2billion worth of property and 30,000 tenancies across the UK, said spiralling house prices in popular areas meant people were being forced to continue to share homes.

The group also argued that many people wanted to house share as a lifestyle option similar to popular American sitcom Friends.

Members said the only reason there would be a decline in house sharing was the wealth of regulations surrounding Homes of Multi Occupancy (HMOs).

And they warned the problems would lead to a shortage of property within the rented sector as regulations and rising costs forced many landlords out of the marketplace.

The organisation reacted after a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research revealed the number of households with two or more unrelated adults would fall by almost one million by 2020.

Chairman Martin Moylan explained: "A lot of people still want to share because of the cost of living in popular areas or simply because they want the Friend lifestyle.

"These people are often young professionals or students who also want to rent within the private sector to give flexibility and allow them to move for work. The impact of less stable relationships means people leaving their home are also looking for quick and affordable accommodation of this type.

"The only problem is that because of the regulations involved in creating HMOs many landlords will not consider investing in such property and the number in the market is decreasing all the time."

Regulations surrounding HMOs include complex administration procedures of local authorities as well proposed licensing laws. The cost of transforming houses to meet regulations often makes them a non-viable option while reselling converted properties can prove impossible.

Mr Moylan went on: "What we would like to see is some policy introduced which will help people utilised the huge amounts of space in large Victorian or Edwardian houses.

"These properties are often empty because the size of the nuclear family has reduced in recent years and could provide excellent accommodation for house sharers."

The RLA is a leading voice for landlords in the UK with branches for members across the country.

Among the benefits for members the RLA provides an advice hotline as well as special rate insurance, training courses and tenancy agreement contracts accredited with the prestigious Crystal Mark from the Plain English campaign.

It also operates homes2rent.net for landlords to advertise properties available to rent.

ENDS January 2000