Many homes are shared by unrelated people, and residents want to know whether these homes are safe, well managed and fairly spread across neighbourhoods.
Raised by:Council plans
The issue in five minutes
The problem
Records on the combined shared-housing register: 3,125 records (council combined HMO register, September 2026). Affects: Tenants of shared houses, often students and lower-paid workers, and neighbours in wards with many HMOs.
Who says so
Official data.
What’s being done
Additional HMO licensingRequire an additional HMO licence, citywide, for smaller shared houses (three or four people forming two or more households), alongside mandatory licensing for five or more, with enforcement for unlicensed properties.Lead Portsmouth City CouncilIn progress · evidence 22 June 2026
Private rented housing enforcementApply an updated Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy and Civil Financial Penalty Policy, reflecting the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, to breaches and offences from 1 November 2026.Lead Portsmouth City CouncilApproved · evidence 20 October 2026
Show the other 1
Licensed HMO informationReview how licensed-HMO information is reconciled between housing and planning and published, and report the outcome to an appropriate council body within six months.Lead Portsmouth City CouncilApproved · evidence 2 November 2026
Wider context
Renters’ Rights Act 2025: section 21 “no-fault” evictions ended from 1 May 2026 (government roadmap, 13 November 2025). National legal change; local enforcement impact is not yet evidenced. Source ↗
What is still missing
4 items not yet published or reported
Not yet published for the work above:
HMO licence applications, refusals, complaints, inspections, hazards found and enforcement actions (no request yet in the FOI tracker) (Freedom of Information request)
The additional licensing scheme runs from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2028 unless the council revokes it; the dates are from an archived copy of the council’s public notice (decision 22 November 2022). The council’s own August 2024 document named in an earlier check was not found, and no current council page restating the dates was checked
No multi-year series of HMO numbers on one definition, so no outcome rule is set
Suggested by Facts Count Reporting that Facts Count suggests:
Published private-rented enforcement activity for 2025/26: inspections, serious (category 1) hazards found and removed, notices and penalties. The updated enforcement policy (October 2026) sets the approach; activity totals are not published with it.
How we’ll know
No outcome measure has been set yet.
1 · The issue
What the evidence says
Who is affected: Tenants of shared houses, often students and lower-paid workers, and neighbours in wards with many HMOs.
PressureShared housing needs clearer quality measures. The combined register has 3,125 records; 3,107 are in licensed categories. Rooms can help people find somewhere to live. Register size alone cannot tell us whether homes are safe or complaints are resolved. Repeated addresses also prevent treating every record as a different home.In context →
2 · The evidence
The figures
3,125 records
Records on the combined shared-housing register City council combined HMO register, September 2026data.portsmouth.gov.uk ↗ · retrieved 23 Sept 2026
Not yet known: No published survey of Portsmouth residents asks about this issue directly. General concern about an issue does not show support for any particular proposal.
Formal commitments by public bodies, with their original decision. Stages without dated evidence are hatched, never filled.
Committed by Portsmouth City CouncilIn progress
Additional HMO licensing
Require an additional HMO licence, citywide, for smaller shared houses (three or four people forming two or more households), alongside mandatory licensing for five or more, with enforcement for unlicensed properties.
10 March 2026milestone Mandatory and additional HMO licence fees raised by 3% from 1 April 2026, to recover the full cost of licensing. source ↗
22 June 2026milestone HMO licensing moved to the Metastreet online system. source ↗
Committed by Portsmouth City CouncilApproved
Originally proposed by Motion by Cllr Carl Inman and Cllr Raymond DentProposal and vote →
Licensed HMO information
Review how licensed-HMO information is reconciled between housing and planning and published, and report the outcome to an appropriate council body within six months.
Apply an updated Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy and Civil Financial Penalty Policy, reflecting the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, to breaches and offences from 1 November 2026.
Facts Count proposals are suggestions, labelled as ours. Stages are a suggested sequence, not deadlines.
Not yet known: No proposal has been written for this issue yet.
Proposals and votes by parties, councillors and MPs
What others have proposed on this issue and what happened to it. A pledge or campaign is not a decision.
Council motionCarried
A fully accurate and maintained HMO register for Portsmouth
Proposed by
Proposed by Cllr Carl Inman and Cllr Raymond Dent Cllr Carl Inman (proposer); Cllr Raymond Dent (seconder)
Where and when
Full Council, 13 October 2026, item 11a
What was proposed
Ask the council’s housing and planning leads to review how they reconcile and publish information about licensed HMOs (shared houses), and report the outcome of any review to an appropriate council body within six months.
Who can deliver it
Portsmouth City Council (private sector housing and planning services)
Build more genuinely affordable homes, including social housing; continue to challenge the spread of HMOs to keep communities mixed and balanced; more council-owned temporary accommodation; cheaper and more frequent buses; hardship support; more CCTV and accessible play equipment.
Who can deliver it
Portsmouth City Council, with bus operators for bus services
The money
No costs given.
Outcome
Election pledge: not put to a council vote.
What has happened since
A pledge, not a decision. CCTV and accessible play also appear in Labour’s budget amendment adopted on 24 February 2026, before the pledges were published.
Proposed by Stephen Morgan MP and Amanda Martin MP
Where and when
HMO Community Forum at Mayfield School · 5 August 2025
What was proposed
Brought residents together on concerns about HMOs (shared houses) and published HMO action packs: how to identify and report an HMO, what to expect from the council and how to escalate a concern.
Who can deliver it
Portsmouth City Council (planning and licensing); MPs do not decide HMO licensing
The money
No costs given.
Outcome
MP action: not put to a council vote.
What has happened since
Information and advocacy, not a decision.
Note: The article cites a council estimate that HMOs rose from about 3,920 in 2018 to nearly 6,000 in 2023; that figure was not checked at the council source. The action packs themselves were not opened.
HMO licence applications, refusals, complaints, inspections, hazards found and enforcement actions (no request yet in the FOI tracker) (requested under Freedom of Information)
The additional licensing scheme runs from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2028 unless the council revokes it; the dates are from an archived copy of the council’s public notice (decision 22 November 2022). The council’s own August 2024 document named in an earlier check was not found, and no current council page restating the dates was checked (another source needed)
No multi-year series of HMO numbers on one definition, so no outcome rule is set (not published)
Cost of living is featured by editorial choice. Other issues follow the order respondents gave the council in its 2025 budget consultation, a survey people chose to take part in; it describes respondents, not all residents.
