John Denham

Welcome to the website of John Denham

John Denham has been representing Southampton Itchen in Parliament since 1992. 

He is currently Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. 

On this website you'll find news about what John's been up to in both Southampton and Westminster. 

You can get in touch with John on constituency issues by following the link below.

 

Protecting family homes

John has succeeded in a long campaign with residents of the Polygon to secure a change in the law to protect family housing,
The agreement means landlords who buy a family home in order to rent it out to multiple
individuals (a ‘House in Multiple Occupation’) would first have to apply for permission from the Council, just as if they were building an extension to the property.
This would also result in more landlords being licensed and meeting minimum standards before they can let out their property.

Landlords of large HMOs should currently be registered with the Council before they can rent their property out.  A landlord can have their license taken away if they fail to maintain their property to a proper standard.  This new change to the law would make it tougher for landlords to evade the licensing system.
Getting more landlords licensed in high-demand areas like Bargate means
giving students, tenants and other residents real rights over the quality of
housing in their area.

The Tory Council in Southampton uses the weakest form of HMO licensing
possible.  They exempt all HMOs from licensing if they are less than 3 storeys and house less than 5 people.  But most student HMOs in Southampton are only 2 storeys high, meaning most student landlords can avoid licensing all together.
Southampton will only get the full benefit of this toughening of HMO laws if the Council uses its powers to require landlords of smaller HMOs to be licensed too. 

The change in the law to protect family homes comes from John Denham’s Communities and Local Government department.
While John and local Labour councillor Sarah Bogle have been working on the HMO campaign for years, the Tories have only decided to support the campaign in the past few months.
Labour’s previous attempt to sort out HMOs was described by a prominant Tory councillor as “illiberal, unjust and tantamount to regulatory blackmail.”