Houses of multiple occupancy across the area will be mapped, under plans by Northampton Borough councillor Tony Clarke (Ind, Castle) to improve standards of rented accommodation.

He said: "We want to map the whole estate and find out how many are houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs), how many are legal HMOs and how many fall below the regulations. Therefore we need to act on those and enter and close them down or bring them up to standard.

"What we don't want is a tragedy, because we have got too many people living in a house that's not fit for purpose."

An HMO is an entire house or flat which is let to three or more tenants, who form two or more households and who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. In some cases, such properties require a licence from a local authority.

Mr Clarke said: "Semilong has a high population density and also a high number of student properties and those that are let to a number of people.

"You might have a terraced property with two or three families. It's fine if they have planning permission and are legal and safe but I feel we have lost control about the number of properties that are converted without permission."

He said he had been prompted to act after hearing from tenants who were being ripped off and living in an unsafe environment.

The problem was "not necessarily" unique to any one group of people, such as the recent influx of economic migrants, Mr Clarke said.

He said: "There are workers coming over but just as equally there are those from the resident community who can't find accommodation and have to look for alternatives.

"Whenever there's a shortage of accommodation then there's a market and there is no problem with it as long as it's legal and regulated.

"We're going to map property ownership, the number of people living in the dwelling and whether there was a planning application. It will give the community more confidence and let them know these properties are controlled and there's no disaster waiting to happen."

Councillor Trini Crake (Lib Dem, Boughton Green), Northampton Borough Council cabinet member responsible for private sector housing, said: "All of the HMOs we are aware of in the town now have licences or are in the process of being licensed. All information is, however, welcome and if there are any HMOs that we don't know about then we will investigate."

The plan will be discussed at Semilong Community Forum on Wednesday, February 13, at the BBOB Club, St Andrews Road, at 7.30pm.

ruth.pottnegrine@northantsnews.co.uk