Houses of Multiple Occupancy are often hot topics for parish and borough councillors.

The Advertiser has highlighted many cases where they are deemed unsuitable for the number of tenants or where neighbours are opposed to buildings being converted because of pressure on street parking, especially in areas like Old Town.

But plenty are still built or converted.

Despite the bad reputation HMOs have gained, they offer a useful housing option for many people - particularly if they would struggle with the cost of renting a house or flat by themselves.

Advertiser reporter Daniel Angelini has experience of living in one for the past three years since he joined the paper.

He explained: “I didn’t want to rent my own flat, I thought it would be good to live with people and to have housemates.

“I looked around Swindon before I moved here, and it was quite nice.

“I was surprised really, it had just been renovated so it was clean, I had heard some horror stories about some of the other ones.”

Daniel spent two years living in shared accommodation when he was at university in Cardiff and says that experience helped him to make up his mind about his accommodation when he made the move to Swindon.

“I lived in a three-bedroom house in Cardiff,” he said.

“They say that it’s not a student house share, that they expect a higher standard from the housemates but some of them are still really messy and don’t tidy up.

“The rent here is definitely more expensive than a student house in Cardiff, but I felt it was my default option.

“I liked the thing at university with living with other housemates and so I wanted that to continue here but to a higher standard.

“They called it a professional house share and not a HMO. Although, I didn’t expect there to be so many people.”

The building that Daniel lives in is home to seven people and the high number can lead to problems including the build up of rubbish.

The issue is one that is often brought up when the borough council discusses new plans for HMOs.

Daniel said: “We got fined once. We used too many blue bags at once.

“We asked the council for more and they took ages to deliver them so the rubbish out the front kept piling up a bit.

“When we finally got the bags we went to put it all away but the landlord noticed and fined us.

He admitted: “I understand why people have an issue with HMOs on the rubbish side. The one thing that’s constant for every person who’s been in here is trying to keep on top of the rubbish.

“It’s the biggest issue, especially with seven people in the house. I can see why neighbours would be concerned but we’ve never been approached with any concerns.

“Our property has quite a bit of rubbish piled up because we go through a lot but we do make sure that it’s collected, but for other properties I have heard that it can be worse.

“It is a worry for people next door I think, but we do try to keep on top of it.”

Despite the issues that neighbours might have with this style of building, Daniel believes that living in a HMO is the easiest option for a lot of people.

“People can’t afford to buy their own house,” he said.

“It’s just a one-off payment every month with all your bills included.

“And you can call on someone to sort out any maintenance problems rather than booking it yourself which is quite handy.

“We’ve had problems with the hot water and the heating, but rather than calling a plumber yourself, you just call the agent and they deal with it.

He added: “It’s more kind of sociable. I didn’t want to come home to a quiet and empty house every day, although a quiet house now would be nice sometimes.”

Living next to a HMO

Bath Road is already home to a shared house and plans have recently been submitted to add another, this time with13 beds.

Neighbour Vanessa Lewinska, a neighbour isn’t opposed to the idea as such, it’s what changes would be made to the history of Old Town in the process that worry her.

“We don’t exactly object to HMOs, we have no problems from the one a few doors down,” she said.

“I’ve been in Old Town for over 40 years and Bath Road has always been a conservation area, which is behind her objection to the new plan.

“We’ve objected to it in the part because Old Town is Swindon’s heritage. The big houses here have a lot of history in them. We’ve just done our house up to make it look more like the original, and we recognise that not everyone has the money to do that but the facade needs to stay the same.

“Some developers wanted to knock the houses down and build flats on it. If they keep it as it is then I don’t object.”

When it comes to the actual people living in the houses, Vanessa says she has always found them to be nice.

“They have people staying short term,” she added: “Apart from a hello or a quick chat, I don’t really speak to them.

“But from what I have, they are very nice and keep quiet. Fingers crossed this new HMO will be the same as the other.

“Our main worry is putting a big extension on the building, but that’s all down to what the council decides.”