Welcome to the Website
of the
NOTTINGHAM ACTION GROUP ON HOUSES IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION
 

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THE NAG
WHO ♦ WHAT ♦ WHY ♦ HOW?
 


“We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams, ...
... Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world forever, it seems.”

[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.hmolobby.org.uk

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.


COMPLAINTS ABOUT LICENSED HMOs
 

Complaints about licensed HMOs can be made directly by e-mailing:

hmo@nottinghamcity.gov.uk


REPORT A ROGUE LANDLORD

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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

February 2019 Unipol-NAG (U-NAG) Open Meeting: 'Current Trends & Future Developments in the Student Housing Market'

Notes of this meeting, held on Thursday 21 February 2019, are now available to read and to download when you open this page.

January 2018 NAG Open Meeting: Notes of Meeting Now Available

Notes of this meeting, held on Friday, 26 January 2018, are available to read and to download when you open this page.


NATIONAL, NOTTINGHAM & NEIGHBOURHOOD: MEETINGS, EXHIBITIONS, CONSULTATIONS & EVENTS

Tuesday 12 November 2019: Houses and Their Occupants

Nottingham University 7.00 pm, Room B62 Law & Social Sciences Building. Talk by Professor John Beckett about the houses that are part of the campus and the business and professional families who lived in them in the past. Fee £4.00 per person. Booking required.

Friday 15 November 2019: Public Exhibition by Unite Student Housing Proposals for Derby Road Development

The Scout Hut, Kenyon Road (Derby Road entrance to Jubilee Campus adjacent to Lenton Lodge), 3.00 pm to 7.30 pm. An event to allow residents and stakeholders to learn more about Unite's proposals for development of the car showroom and service site on Derby Road to include 620 student bed spaces.

Tuesday 19 November 2019: History & Development of Jubilee Campus

7.30 pm, Lecture Theatre 2, Exchange Building, Jubilee Campus. Professor John Beckett will draw on the work he has undertaken since the 1990s to show how the campus came to be where it is today, and what was there before! Fee £3.00 per person, Booking required.


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.
Lenton & Wollaton East Ward: Contact details for ward councillors, location and times of ward surgeries, ward walks,  neighbourhood events ... 

Lenton & Wollaton East Ward News October 2019


NEWS DESK
 


NATIONAL NEWS

'How Students Can Buy a £400,000 Home With Zero Deposit'

Patrick Collinson, Money Editor of The Guardian (Saturday 26 October 2019) used this headline for a report by Patrick Collinson, its Money Editor, on the increasing number of building societies offering deals that let young adults buy their university home and pay the mortgage with the rent they charge other students.

Students at Bristol (UWE) & Coventry Universities Unhappy with University Accommodation

The BBC News (Wednesday 23 October 2019 and Thursday 24 October) carried reports about students dissatisfaction with their accommodation at the University of the West of England, Bristol, where students have said that 'studio pods' are 'not fit for humans'; and at Coventry University where students were moved into temporary accommodation due to a rat problem at halls of residence.

Pre-Loading Students Causing Sleepless Nights in Bristol

On Friday 18 October 2019, using the headline 'It's Party Central': the Bristol Residents Fed Up with Noisy Student Neighbours', Steven Morris reported on the impact of student behaviour on local residents in the Redland area of Bristol. In the same issue of the Guardian, Richard Adams and Will Charley reported that 'Bristol University Pays for Late-Night Police Patrols Targeting Noisy Students'.

 

NOTTINGHAM NEWS

Nottingham Tops Survey of Faster Growing Home Rental Costs

On Wednesday 16 October 2019 Kevin Peachey (Personal Finance Reporter, BBC News) reported on a survey by property website Zoopla which had found that 'tenants moving into a Nottingham home this summer paid 5.4% more in rent than a year earlier.' Leeds and Bristol (up by 4.5%) were the only other UK cities where rents rose faster than the UK average growth.

Unite Release Plans to Build New 620 Bed Student Accommodation on Derby Road

Matthew Bunn, writing in the Nottingham Post on Monday 12 August 2019 reported on plans by the student accommodation provider Unite to build a new 620-bed a development for students on land on Derby Road (Jaguar-Toyota car showrooms) adjacent to its present 484-bed student accommodation on Radmarsh Road.

York House Scheme Revision Adds Extra Student Rooms

Writing in the Nottingham Post (Friday 2 August 2019) Jamie Barlow reported that developers of the site of the former York House office block have revised the scheme to add another 50 student bed spaces to the existing scheme, making a total of nearly 500.

 

NEIGHBOURHOOD NEWS

The New Academic Year Arrives!

The Nottingham Post (Monday 7 October 2019) reported that 42 students had been warned about their behaviour in neighbourhoods in Lenton and the Arboretum. The six students in one household have already been fined £70 each for failing to heed Community Protection Warning Notices.

Grove Hotel: Planning Inspector Dismisses Appeal

A planning application seeking permission to convert the upper floors of the Grove Hotel, Lenton, and to add a substantial extension in order to accommodate student housing was refused by Nottingham City Council. The subsequent appeal to the Planning Inspectorate has now been dismissed.


EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
 

Not quite a blog, this page reflects the interests and the state of mind of the Editor, so you've been warned that its contents very probably may not appeal to you.

However, if you enjoy random walks and serendipitous discoveries, then I hope these pages, of which the ones listed here are the latest, as they accumulate, may well be for you.

Is it Ignorance, Arrogance Or Just the Luck of the Draw?

Requiem for a Glacier


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.

©2019 The Nottingham Action Group

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