LEEDS CITY COUNCIL TAKES A LEAD

It’s official. The Government wants students throughout the UK to have a wash basin in every bedroom of privately rented student houses.

So much so that it’s been written into controversial new legislation that comes into force on Thursday (April 6).

Local authorities – who become responsible for licensing ‘houses in multiple occupation’ – can’t see the point. Neither can the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Officers - the professional body for the enforcing officials. And the National Union of Students don’t seem to want it either.

But the condition, for all privately rented shared accommodation, will still become law when the Act is implemented this week.

The UK’s residential landlords took issue with the government when the definition of a ‘unit of accommodation’ was unclear. But now it’s been explained – a unit of accommodation is a bedroom.

So that means every one must have a hand basin – in addition to the Act’s stipulation for tenants to have additional communal wash hand basins in a proportionate number of toilets and bath or shower rooms.

“It’s great news for local plumbers who are in line for an estimated £140-worth of business fitting new wash basins – but no-one else understands the thinking behind this overkill,” says Chris Town, Chairman of the Residential Landlords Association - whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK.

LEEDS CITY COUNCIL

Leeds City Council was curious enough to mailshot colleagues at local authorities throughout the country. Fifty seven said they didn’t agree with the legislation. Just three supported it – ‘because it was the law’.

So Leeds City Councillors decided that, because HMO licences last for five years, landlords don’t have to fit the basins until the end of that period – which gives time for the issue to be reconsidered when the Act is reviewed in three years time.

“The Housing Act gives local authorities the power to do that and we’re hoping that others will follow suit,” says Chris Town. “The Leeds decision is as satisfactory as this bizarre situation can get.”