Liverpool Council have agreed to new rules which may mean the end of students living in Smithdown

Today, a Liverpool council meeting agreed plans in the near future to crackdown on the level of student housing in Wavertree, predominately in the area leading off from Smithdown Road.

The change will mean that landlords will no longer be able to start letting out residential homes to students as they wish; something which they are currently allowed to do.

The Council may seek to promote City centre living for students as an alternative to Smithdown

From now on, landlords will be forced to apply for council permission to change the status of housing from a normal family home to a student let, and without this permission they are not allowed to advertise or let their property.

However, the good news for students is that within Wavertree and the so-called Dales area, there are already approximately 700 houses classified as "HMOs" or "houses in multiple occupation". This means that there is little that the council and the surrounding residents can do in order to prevent students moving into these houses.

This move follows a recent consultation period with residents in the area; of the 182 residents spoken to by the council a shocking 96% of them were in favour of the new rules, with many commenting that the new rules should have been implemented years ago.

Recent years have seen large conflicts between the two main stakeholders in the area: students and local residents. With residents often having to phone the police with noise complaints and other anti-social behaviour claims, they claim that absent landlords are not taking responsibility for the area and accuse them of using the quiet summer months to create so-called 'party let' properties using sites such as Air Bnb.

Smithdown is the most popular student area within Liverpool for students across all unis to live, recent growth across Liverpool has seen it develop the name of "Wavertree Student Village" amongst some of the locals.