Dame Caroline Dinenage, Member of Parliament for Gosport, has pushed the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to publish the results of a consultation she secured last year.
The consultation sought views and experiences with the application of council tax bands to Homes of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs). Currently, the Valuation Office Agency is able to consider individual rooms within an HMO as a single dwelling, rather than the whole building, leaving the occupant with a large council tax bill instead of the landlord.
Caroline has been working alongside local businessman Daryn Brewer, who is converting numerous empty shops on Gosport High Street into high quality shared living spaces ‘Propods’, with independent shops occupying the lower floor and high-spec HMOs on the upper floors, with shared kitchen, laundry and workspaces.
This is a key part of the levelling up agenda, transforming disused shops into high quality housing for young professionals and people starting out in their careers.
The consultation came after Caroline tabled an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill last November.
The Consultation concluded in March last year, with the findings still due to be published.
Speaking in Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Questions, Caroline said:
“The Minister understands that, of course, the regeneration of our High Streets is key to the levelling up of our communities. And yet, in Gosport she is aware that this is being paralysed by unfair Council Tax which is being slapped on upon Houses of Multiple Occupancy- very high quality ones- which are key to the future regeneration of our High Street.
As part of the Levelling Up Bill, she knows that the Secretary of State launched a consultation to address this. It concluded weeks ago, and we still haven’t had the results. When will it be published?”
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Levelling Up, Dehenna Davison, responded:
“I’m very grateful to the Hon. Lady for raising this, and for her engagement with me and the Secretary of State on this very vital issue.
“Unfortunately, I cannot give a specific date right now but I will meet with her as soon as we have that in place because I recognise that it is a vital issue that we do need to address.”
