Welcome to the Website
of the
NOTTINGHAM ACTION GROUP ON HOUSES IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION
THE NAG
WHO ♦ WHAT ♦ WHY ♦ HOW?
[Arthur O’Shaughnessy, Poems of Arthur O’Shaughnessy]
We are residents living in neighbourhoods from across a large part of the City of Nottingham (Sherwood, The Arboretum, Hyson Green, Radford, The Park, Lenton, Dunkirk, The Meadows, Wollaton Park, Wollaton, Lenton Abbey), and also in Beeston and West Bridgford.
Although our neighbourhoods are as different from one another as we are, what they have in common are the problems caused by increasing concentrations of so-called 'Houses in Multiple Occupation' (HMOs) - shared houses with absentee landlords and short-term, highly transient tenants.
What we have in common is the feeling that as individual residents we run the risk of having little or no say in what primarily local and national government, our higher education establishments, developers, investors, and others are planning and doing, even though their decisions directly affect us and the future of the neighbourhoods in which we live. As individuals we feel we have little or no voice. However, we believe that coming together as a group gives us a voice.
In February 2004, we did get together and formed the Nottingham Action Group on HMOs – the NAG – not a nice name, but appropriate. What has been happening to our neighbourhoods is not nice for those who live in them, or for their futures, and we are ready to nag and keep on nagging to get things done.
Whilst we cannot change what has happened, perhaps we too can become not just the 'dreamers of dreams' but also the 'movers and shakers', and, by influencing what may be going to happen, so help shape the future of our neighbourhoods.
For the NAG that future needs to be neighbourhoods that are resilient, balanced and sustainable, and where people feel happy to put down roots and contribute to the future of the City of Nottingham as a whole. In other words:
‘... places where people want to live and work and learn, now and in the future. ...'
WHAT IS A HOUSE IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION (HMO)?
An HMO is often also known as a 'shared house'. Put as simply as possible, an HMO is a building, or part of a building, occupied as a main residence by more than one household where a 'household' can be one person or several people provided that they are related to one another. So, for example, a home is probably an HMO if
•three or more unrelated people live there as at least two separate households, and
•the people living there share the same amenities such as a kitchen and/or bathroom.
For more information about HMOs and about legislation relating to HMOs, we suggest you take a look at these websites:
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/HMO
Also, Nottingham City Council publish a regularly up-dated Register of Licensed HMOs, which can be downloaded from the appropriate link in this page: http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/HMO. Scroll to the 'Downloads' section and the register is the last item on the list.
REPORT A ROGUE LANDLORD
If you want advice or help relating to the condition and management of your privately rented property
Visit:
www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/article/29046/Report-a-rogue-landlord-or-problem-with-your-private-rented-property
E-Mail: environmental.health@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
Telephone: 0115 915-2020 (Option 4)
Write to: Environmental Health, Community Protection, Nottingham City Council, Loxley House,
Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3NG
FOR YOUR DIARY
NAG MEETINGS & EVENTS
'CURRENT TRENDS & FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE STUDENT HOUSING MARKET'
A Unipol-Nottingham Action Group on HMOs (U-NAG) Public Meeting
Thursday 21 February 2019, 6.00 pm to 8.00 pm
The Lecture Room
New Mechanics Institute, North Sherwood Street, Nottingham
February 2019 Unipol-NAG (U-NAG) Open Meeting: 'Current Trends & Future Developments in the Student Housing Market'
January 2018 NAG Open Meeting: Notes of Meeting Now Available
NATIONAL, NOTTINGHAM & NEIGHBOURHOOD: MEETINGS, EXHIBITIONS, CONSULTATIONS & EVENTS
Nottingham Light Night 2019
NEIGHBOURHOOD: PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCY ADVICE,
WARD MEETINGS, WARD WALKS & WARD EVENTS
Nottingham East Constituency: Contact information for Chris Leslie MP.
Nottingham South Constituency: Contact and constituency advice surgery information for Lilian Greenwood MP.
Dunkirk & Lenton Ward (D&L): Ward Walks: Nottingham City Council restructuring is affecting the programme of ward walks. To try and avoid posting inaccurate information, details of future Dunkirk & Lenton Ward walks will be posted only as and when they become available. Ward Councillors' Surgeries: Lenton Centre, 6.30 pm second Tuesday of every month; Dunkirk Community Centre, 7.00 pm fourth Friday of every month.
Wollaton East & Lenton Abbey Ward (WELA): Ward Walks: Nottingham City Council restructuring is affecting the programme of ward walks. To try and avoid posting inaccurate information, details of future Wollaton East & Lenton Abbey Ward walks will be posted only as and when they become available.
WELA Councillors' Monthly Update: WELA_Councillors_Update_January_2019.pdf
NEWS DESK
NATIONAL NEWS
Anticipated Cut in Student Fees: Are Universities at Risk of Collapsing?
'Studentification': The Negative Impacts of Large Student Populations
The National HMO Lobby's Response to Coalition Government Plans to Amend HMO Planning Legislation
Landlords Exploit Loopholes
NOTTINGHAM NEWS
Neville Sadler Court in Beeston to be Redeveloped as Student Cluster Flats
Developer Plans to Change Beeston Pub into Student Flats
The 2019-2023 Additional Licensing of HMOs Scheme Approved
'Housing Horror Stories Behind Selective Licensing'
NEIGHBOURHOOD NEWS
Great Places Commission Visit to Lenton
Landlord of Wollaton Hall Drive HMO Fined & Faces Jail After Court Hearing
UNIVERSITY CORNER
NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY
Community Statistics & Response Rates
At the meeting facilitated by the NAG on 26 January 2018, Nottingham Trent University presented its community statistics and response rates for the period from September 2017 to 26 January 2018. The university will be providing up-dated community statistics and response rates for each term of the academic year.
A summary of Nottingham Trent University's community statistics for the academic year 2017 to 2018 is now available and can be downloaded here:
NTU_Community_Statistics_2017_to_2018.pdf
Nottingham Trent's 'Moving Into the Community' information portal can be accessed here:
http://browzer.co.uk/u/ntu/preview/77
NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY
Community Newsletter
Community Newsletter Winter 2018
EDITOR'S REMINISCENCE
In the Midwinter 2009-2010 issue of the NAG's magazine (NAG Magazine (TransNAG) an article based on a BBC Radio 4 programme entitled 'The Oxbridge Murder' delved into the history of the foundation of Cambridge University, at that time marking its 800th anniversary, and also touched on some of the friction between town and gown which existed then ... .
At the end of the article, the Editor noted that: Of one thing we can be sure. In 1209 there were no universities in Nottingham, though, if legend is to believed, Nottingham did have its own source of riot and mayhem in the form of Robin Hood and his band of ‘merry men’.
Today, we have two universities in Nottingham and their 50,000 or so students make up about 12 per cent of the City’s population.
Though one cannot imagine Nottingham's City Council leaders being required to kneel before the respective Vice-Chancellors of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent universities in order to swear obedience to them in any way, shape or form, the friction between town and gown continues to surface on the streets of our studentified neighbourhoods, if nowhere else. And sometimes it does seem as if history is only a very recent page in a well-thumbed book.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS
Planning_Applications_Week_Ending_15_February_2019.pdf
Planning_Applications_Week_Ending_8_February_2019_.pdf
Planning_Applications_Week_Ending_1_February_2019.pdf
Planning_Applications_Week_Ending_25_January_2019.pdf
You can view all planning applications by visiting the Planning Applications section of Nottingham City Council's website:
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/article/23398/Planning-Applications
NOTTINGHAM CITY COUNCIL LOCAL PLAN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & DISCLAIMER
The Nottingham Action Group on HMOs wishes to thank: Nottingham City Council for funding support; everyone whose contributions (photographs, ideas, articles, work) form part of this website; and Magneto Technologies Ltd (http://magnetoweb.com) for the expertise which has enabled us to set up and maintain this website.
Last, but by no means least, we also thank our neighbours in the National HMO Lobby for their continuing help and support.
The views and opinions expressed in contributions to this website do not necessarily reflect those of the Nottingham Action Group on HMOs, its committee, or its wider membership.
Whilst we endeavour to ensure that reports are accurate, from time to time mistakes may occur. If you feel this is the case, please contact the Nottingham Action Group on HMOs. Information on how to do so is available on the 'Contact Us' page of this website.