Belfast councillor says laws which allow multiple tenants for houses in areas likes Holylands are ‘a blight on our city’

Councillors at the recent Belfast City Council Licensing Committee agreed to write to Stormont’s Department for Communities, requesting an urgent meeting with the Communities Minister Caral Ni Chuilin, over the issue of 2016 HMO legislation, and its upcoming review.

HMOs, which landlords lease out to three or more tenants from different addresses, have become increasingly controversial, with some arguing they have negatively affected communities and led to anti-social behaviour in places like the Holylands and Stranmillis in South Belfast, where landlords fill houses with undergraduates.

Councils across Northern Ireland last year received powers to grant HMO status for houses, as well the power to renew landlord’s licenses.

But elected representatives at Belfast City Council have become increasingly worried that they are merely rubber-stamping existing licences for landlords.

Green Councillor Brian Smyth forwarded the proposal at the Licensing Committee, for an urgent meeting with the Stormont minister. He told the council HMO legislation is “ineffective” and “a blight on the city, particularly on our inner city working class communities.”

Sinn Fein Councillor Nichola Bradley told the committee: “While the council has the responsibility for HMOs, the minister is on record as saying if councils need more powers, they need only to request a meeting with herself and the department and that she won’t be found wanting.”

Councillor Smyth said later: “There’s a groundswell of frustration with many parties over legislation – how we can’t reject renewals on the basis of over-provision. Some of us would argue the legislation isn’t working. This has been building for months.”

He said existing legislation is a “quagmire” and councillors felt like “nodding dogs” for HMO  renewals.

He added: “HMO legislation is incredibly complex, and it also feels like it’s all over the place. For me as a Green it feels that the legislation is firmly in the hands of landlords. While I accept there are many decent landlords, there are rogue landlords out there, and as a council we are hamstrung.

“We are fighting with both hands strung behind our backs. You look at what is going on in the Holylands, and you see communities are being disempowered. Long-term residents are being hammered.”

He added: “What I proposed is a meeting with Caral Ni Chuilin, and I think she gets this. There is an upcoming review, and I think it will feed into this. I proposed last month in the committee that in terms of reference residents associations are included as stakeholders. LANI (the Landlords Association for Northern Ireland) have a powerful voice, individual residents don’t.”

He thanked his party colleague Councillor Aine Groogan for her work in the Botanic district on HMOs, as well as the SDLP’s Gary McKeown and the DUP’s Tracey Kelly in the same area.

He said: “There are some of us who are throwing everything at this. There’s a news cycle, the Holylands during St Patrick’s Day and freshers week, etcetera. Eyes go on it, and then that’s it. People forget about it until next year – but residents have to live with it.”