Letter: I Hope HMOs Will be Converted Back to Family Homes

Published on: 7 Aug, 2024
Updated on: 7 Aug, 2024

From Jenny Grove (Mrs)

In response to a comment from John  Simpson on the article Westborough HMO Plans ‘Losing the Heart of the Street’ Says Resident

We lived in Bridgehill Close for 35 years but sold in 2017 when some of the houses had already been converted to HMOs.

Only one family viewed the property and we reluctantly sold to a university students’ landlord. The 4-bedroom house was radically altered. The dining room, the study and the garage were all converted to student rooms leaving only the kitchen and sitting room as communal areas.

Two adults and two children had now become seven adults, presumably paying not a penny of Council Tax, but certainly contributing more than we ever did to the amount of rubbish.

The houses in the Close were all four-bedroom family homes, and there was a real community of children and adults with whom we remain friends after all these years.

I hope the tide will turn and the houses will be converted back into family homes.

In the meantime, at the very least, Guildford Borough Council should be able to impose a Refuse Tax on all student accommodation. This would seem to be a fair contribution to the welfare of our town and a moral contribution to the taxpayers of Guildford. Why should we pay for student rubbish to be disposed of? We shouldn’t.

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