Council seeks to limit number of student houses in city

Liverpool City Council has told landlords to stop converting family homes into student accommodation in part of the city, unless they obtain specific permission to do so after complaints from residents about anti-social behaviour.

The council’s cabinet has approved plans to control the number of converted properties in the Dales area of Wavertree, which already has approximately 700 HMOs and has resulted in the area being referred to as a student village.

Existing conversions for student lets are unaffected by the new order. It came about after the council received hundreds of complaints about noise, litter, bad behaviour and late night parties, which residents said was changing the family-friendly feel of the area.

A consultation exercise received almost unanimous support from residents who complained that large numbers of family sized properties were being bought by absent landlords and converted into ‘students digs’ with six or more students per property.

By Patrick Mooney, editor