ABSTRACT
This chapter considers practices which are adopted by local authority environmental health departments to raise standards and safety within houses in multiple occupations (HMO). It also considers definitional issues relating to multiple occupations, particularly how these issues impact upon authority activity. The chapter investigates consultation between fire and environmental health officers, a matter of contention for both professions. It assesses the question of registering or licensing multiply occupied accommodation. There are many statistics available indicating numbers of deaths, the dangerousness of existing in a HMO, the lack of amenity and poor standards of accommodation within multiply occupied housing. HMOs are safeguarded by a plethora of statutory provision and regulations. However, the major fire protection enforcement authority for HMOs is housing authorities. The impact of a new duty to keep premises fit for the number of occupants, to be placed on owners and managers of HMOs received a mixed response.
