Leamington Spy

I have lived in Leamington Spa for over 25 years, making my home in the town centre where I have always enjoyed the special qualities of town life. But in recent times things have changed. The quality of life for everyone has diminished. The look and feel of the town, its very nature, are changing – and not for the better. What has happened? Rubbish is strewn on the streets, noise and anti-social behaviour have increased, the whole ambiance has changed, touching all aspects of life. Parking is more difficult, homes run into disrepair, transience has grown. It all adds up to a general neglect and loss of community. What has brought this about? When I was first heard about “HMOs” I didn’t even understand what the letters stood for. I now recognise they hold the key to everything -- Houses in Multiple occupancy. An HMO is a furnished house or flat rented out to three or more unrelated people, who share facilities like bathrooms and kitchen. It’s the classic student shared house, let for a...

This is just one of the many testimonials we have received from Leamington Together supporters who have left the area because of HMO blight... I lived in New Street, South Town from 1998 – 2018 and loved New Street in terms of the house, the proximity to town and the creativity of the community that lived in this area. However, New Street, like many other streets with terraced houses in the area were bought by landlords for the sole purpose of converting them to HMOs – Houses of  Multiple Occupancy. This area of Leamington was taken over by HMOs in a twenty-year period and has changed the face of the oldest part of Leamington Spa for good. Initially, the changes weren’t keenly felt by the town, which in my view, allowed more HMOs. A lack of cohesive control allowed these beautiful houses and this beautiful part of the town to lose its creative community and with this it gained students who are by nature transient. The houses lost the care and attention due to them and ...

  How did we get here? To misquote Jane Austen, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of an HMO must be making a tidy sum”, and nowhere is this more evident than in the streets of Leamington Spa.   A House of Multiple Occupation (HMO is occupied by at least three people, forming more than one household and sharing a toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants, and is the accommodation type favoured by most off-campus students.   There are hundreds of shared student houses in Leamington – up to 40% of the properties in some areas – and so it’s not surprising to learn that nearly 90% of Warwick University students who live off campus have chosen Leamington as their temporary home. Meanwhile, investors have gathered like vultures to feast off the rich and guaranteed pickings – a yield of over 10% per annum on their investment (plus capital appreciation) - much higher than the gains from letting to a family, because as shared accommo...