Councillors reach compromise between St Andrews students and locals over HMOs

Fife Cabinet Committee decided to keep its Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence policy in place on Thursday while granting up to 15 licences managed by the University of St Andrews over a three year period to accommodate students.

Councillor Altany Craik (Labour) said: “It’s a difficult balancing act. Lots of towns around the country would kill to have a world renowned university in their town, but it comes with pressures and we need to be sure we’re enabling both sides.”

He continued: “No one is trying to make the situation worse and if we have a compromise that no one likes, that’s probably the best place to be in the first instance.”

Permits are required for houses of multiple occupancy, and the term applies when three or more people who are unrelated share a home. HMOs are most often used for student accommodation. In 2019, Fife councillors decided to allow no new HMO licences in St Andrews. Since that date, the locality has lost 17 HMOs – a total of 124 beds. The policy required a three year operational review, which was brought before the Cabinet Committee on Thursday.

Councillor David Ross, Labour leader of the minority administration and committee convener, allowed public representations from both sides to present to councillors.

On one hand, Juan Rodriguez, president of the St Andrews Student Association, argued for councillors to abolish the policy entirely. On the other hand, Richard Olver, from the Confederation of St Andrews Residents’ Associations, argued that the policy should be left in place while allowing for some student accommodation relief.

Mr Rodriguez said: “The policy has contributed to the increase of student homelessness in our community. The proposal of increasing the HMO provision by 15 for a period of three years is irresponsible.”

He argued that the policy needs to be lifted to allow current students to find housing in St Andrews and to test the market and its behaviour. “Once legislation for short term let caps is worked on and reviewed it would be sensible to review the HMO policy again but until then it is unfair to place students at a disadvantage,” he said.

However, Mr Olver countered that the policy is a crucial line of defence for the local housing market.

“Every family home converted into an HMO is a home lost to locals,” he said. He claimed HMOs are forcing local families to look elsewhere for accommodation, “hollowing out the town and pushing up accommodation prices in the surrounding areas in the process.”

“The university should shoulder the responsibility of providing accommodation for its students,” Mr Olver concluded. “Removing the cap would only exacerbate the problem.”

However, Housing Services states in its report that “it is questionable if families have indeed benefited from the control and reduction of HMO numbers.”

“The rents charged for private rental properties in St. Andrews are the highest in Fife and beyond the financial reach of most families looking for housing in the town,” the report states.

The Cabinet Committee ultimately agreed to keep the policy in place while allowing provision for 15 university managed HMOs over the course of the next three years.

Councillor Judy Hamilton, Labour spokesperson for housing and building services said: “This is an excellent compromise because we keep the policy residents want and within that we’re finding hedge room for students.”