HMO

So bluntly- the HMO brings nothing new in terms of the time you spend thinking about CSO?

As I said a few pages back these are not HMOs. I am a trustee for a mental health charity that provides housing. If it wasn’t for these “lodgings” the residents would be dead or in prison. Addiction is very common in serious long term mental illness.

These people live amongst us. They’ve lived complex, sad lives and there for the grace of god go us.

Amazingly, we operate in the richest borough in the country and never have complaints from neighbours all of whom own multiple million pound townhouses.

@sciaticafanatica if you'd bothered to read the thread you'll see that I asked if the OP had any indication that it would be a property that was seeking enhanced rates. But it appears not, just that the OP is stereotyping.

And not all young professionals can afford apartments, I'd say that majority can't. Again we're a grim northern town but a two bed terrace with a shared garden is rarely less than 1k a month. How many people can afford that on an average wage? It's hard enough for a couple let alone a single person.

I lived in house shares for years, at the budget end so I have lived WITH some pretty ropey people, not just next to. But I had to deal with it, because I was poor. Working, just poor.

I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, both with and outside my home - so sadly very aware of this reality. The fear of this reality has remained with me, which grew when I became a mum.

@Hibernatingtilspringand you haven’t lived near a HMO full of alcoholics who don’t work but have everything paid for them under the guise of supported living.
the ones in my area are full of the scum of the earth!
the young professionals live in the apartments not in a room in a terraced house .

@sciaticafanatica You haven't rented for a while have you? Even if you're entitled to full benefits, the amount you can claim for housing is capped, and it hasn't been increased in years when rents have skyrocketed. For example, in my average northern town where a room is £600pcm the maximum amount of benefit someone can claim for that room is £316 a month. So no, if a property developer is doing up a house, the likelihood of it being affordable to addicts or recent convicts is slim to none.

But, serious question- there has likely been a child Sex offender living on all the streets you’ve lived on, for all the decades you’ve been alive. Did you genuinely worry about them before?

@TofuEaterive never had to live in shared accommodation with strangers.
i don’t feel I’ve missed any stage of life by not doing so

My mum lived in a little terraced house in a bougie bit of London. Two men who lived in similar (but slightly bigger) houses on the same road took part in an armed robbery nd both did a 10 stretch while the guy across the road (who taught my mum how to parallel park) fenced it all through his greengrocers shop.

@Hibernatingtilspringthey are if the rent is being paid for them.

I take it you went straight from your parents' house to marriage without living in student or other shared accommodation. An HMO is only what used to be called a 'shared house' or flatshare. Most of us have lived in them at some time another though you seem to have lead a very sheltered life and have missed out on this stage in life

And yes, you're a racist. Do the rest of your family know how you feel?

HMOs providing exempt (supported) accommodation are still HMOs and don’t need any planning permission for change of use. They have a deserved poor reputation because some developers have moved into providing exempt accommodation because of the higher level of housing benefit they can get for each tenant + much lower security of tenure for tenants, while not providing the level of support that the tenants need.

There are other HMOs which are just house shares.

I’ve lived next door to both sorts, including a student house share which has not been a problem and a HMO providing exempt accommodation which was a nightmare for both us and its tenants.

The poster doesn’t yet know which sort the house next door to her is going to be, so her worry is understandable.

I've just had a look and in my average northern town, the cheapest HMO property is nearly £600 per room per month.
If those are the prices of HMOs, I doubt many addicts and recent convicts are going to be affording them. It's just housing, for regular people.

I am curious though OP, your reaction comes across as extreme ‘cant function, crying most of the time’ - now that we've made it clear about the type of people you are ‘scared/worried/anxious’ about - why the extremeness? Do you struggle with anxiety? Maybe even PTSD?

Definitely would cry if next door became a student HMO, my best friend has had ENDLESS issues with the HMO next door, rammed with students who have no clue how to behave, think late night parties, loud music, rolling in at 3am and making a racket outside in the process... then as exams roll round demanding TOTAL SILENCE from their neighbours.

Complaining to student services and student security achieves fuck all, a knock on the door to shut up which half the time they don't even hear they're being so loud. Police do nothing, its not their remit...

She's finally moved.

However an HMO full of quiet professionals is probably nicer and quieter than a family with small children.

An HMO full of rowdy drug users/drunken arseholes, the police will actually deal with (not super effectively, but more effectively than with students who know they will only be living there short term so do not care, and have faith that Mummy and Daddy will pay up to fix any issues, pay fines etc).

I suspect that if I hadn't mentioned whether the OP was talking about asylum seekers she'd have gone on skirting round the edges.

We have had a few HMO properties in the area over the last couple of years.
They have been a fucking nightmare.
alcoholics
Drug users
mental health problems.
it’s been truly shit.
i hope you have better look op

I'd also like to add, I get why she didn't want to articulate her actual concerns, because as soon as I laid it out - that was it. I'm a racist. OP is a racist. End of.

I agree - the UK has a long way to go. But I'd much rather be a woman here, than in Afghanistan.

As I've said previously, she has reasons why she's doing this. She already has a HMO with a crap reputation on her street, and now another. And she cant object to it.

Whats wrong with calling a spade a spade - we have all called someone ‘looking rough’ or something similar, our brains are pretty lazy and need to make cognitive shortcuts to survive. So someone who looks rough (pretty sure she also stated drugs were an issue with police coming out) would make anyone feel uneasy - it literally serves as a red flag to signal something is wrong.

So we have another HMO coming to her street with her right to object taken away - yeah, I get why she's concerned.

Let’s be honest—when a new neighbour moves in, most people take notice. If it’s a group of men, and you later learn they’re from countries with poor records on women’s rights, it’s natural to feel concerned.

@Sparklybutold if they're moving to the UK, they're not moving to a country with a particularly stellar record on women's rights are they?

I do get anxious around men sometimes—especially when they exhibit behaviours that feel threatening or inappropriate. I’ve experienced things like men loitering near schools and parks, or watching young girls from windows. One of those incidents happened to me, and it’s stayed with me.

So when I hear that thousands of men are arriving in the UK without proper vetting, I think it’s entirely reasonable to feel uneasy—especially when some are coming from regions where women are routinely denied basic rights, and where misogyny is deeply embedded in the culture. It’s not about assuming every individual holds those views, but it’s unrealistic to expect deeply ingrained attitudes to disappear the moment someone arrives here.

Let’s be honest—when a new neighbour moves in, most people take notice. If it’s a group of men, and you later learn they’re from countries with poor records on women’s rights, it’s natural to feel concerned. That doesn’t make someone racist—it makes them cautious, especially if they’ve had past experiences that heighten that anxiety.

What I find most frustrating is that councils—who we pay through our taxes—can remove our right to object or even raise concerns. That feels deeply unfair. We should be able to talk about safeguarding without being shut down or labelled.

I know a fair few property developers who own HMOs. By and large they prefer renting to young (well any age!) professionals who don’t earn enough to rent alone / want to save to buy, because they tend to be far less trouble than the alternative (look after the property so less money on repairs, likely to pay slightly more per room, take better care of the property).

She just hasn't been transparent. It's all inference and hints.