The government is planning to remove licensing requirements for asylum-seeker accommodation in a bid to move thousands out of hotels – but critics have warned the plan will strip people of basic housing protections.

Under the changes, landlords will be allowed to house asylum seekers for two years without getting the property recognised as a house in multiple occupation (HMO).

This would create exemptions from regulations governing electrical safety and minimum room sizes, according to The Guardian which first reported on the story.

Almost 50,000 people are currently in hotels on top of approximately 57,000 in long-standing asylum accommodation.

Transport minister Richard Holden told Sky News asylum seekers are “stuck in hotel accommodation for far too long” and getting them into longer-term housing has “got to be the right way forwards”.

But Labour MPs condemned the plans, with Matthew Pennycook warning it would mean asylum seekers being housed in accommodation “without gas safety certificates, without safe electrical appliances and furniture, without working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and without shared amenity facilities that meet minimum standards”.

“It’s not bringing down the standards in HMO asylum accommodation to the minimum, it is exempting them entirely,” he told Sky News.

Sunak calls for change to international law that experts think government will break with Illegal Migration Bill

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby expected to criticise government’s Illegal Migration Bill in House of Lords

Bibby Stockholm: Barge set to house asylum seekers arrives in UK waters

He said Labour is also concerned that the government is “trampling on local discretion” as HMO licensing requirements are used by councils to ensure housing standards are met.

“In a sense the government are just casually sacrificing these important powers because they are reaching for every lever possible, having broken the asylum system, to deal with the backlog, to deal with the hotel crisis.”

A HMO is any home rented out to three or more tenants from more than one household.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

Under current licensing requirements, landlords renting out a HMO must provide certain things including gas safety certificates and working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, while also ensuring there are adequate amenities and space.

Mr Holden, when asked how the government will prevent lots of refugees being into small spaces, admitted he didn’t know to what extent the regulations will be relaxed but said currently they “are very stringent and I wouldn’t like to see them move too far in any area”.

The government has insisted the measure will not compromise standards.

Read More:
Government unveils renting shake-up – with ban on ‘no-fault’ evictions
Bibby Stockholm: Barge set to house asylum seekers arrives in UK

A spokesperson said: “The use of expensive hotels to house the unprecedented number of asylum seekers crossing the Channel is unacceptable and must end.

“By temporarily removing this licensing requirement, we will be able to acquire more suitable long-term accommodation while continuing to meet our legal duty of care.

“This will not compromise standards and all properties will be independently inspected for quality to ensure they continue to meet national housing quality requirements.”

Related posts:

Four people from two households able to meet outdoors in Scotland from Friday as lockdown eased Police release two new photos of missing Sarah Everard Man arrested on suspicion of 1999 murder of teenager Victoria Hall Man jailed for raping and robbing two men he met on dating app Photographer convicted of sexually assaulting aspiring actress more than a decade ago Police search for man after three London shop workers attacked with noxious liquid in two incidents Gove criticised for using ‘silly voices’ during broadcast interview COVID an ‘inconvenience’ rather than ‘life-threatening’ for many now, says WHO Jeremy Hunt appointed chancellor How prime suspect in Leah Croucher murder evaded police despite 18 attempts to arrest him ‘Total liability’: Rishi Sunak faces backlash from MPs after being handed second police fine Former World Of Sport presenter Dickie Davies dies aged 94