Camden Council is urging residents to give their views on plans to improve living conditions for private renters.

Council leader Cllr Sarah Hayward visited Castlehaven Community Centre, in Castlehaven Road, Chalk Farm, last week to speak to residents about the council’s plans to introduce a new scheme requiring all landlords to apply for a licence if they wish to run HMOs (houses in multiple occupation).

The plans were prompted by a damning council report published in September which revealed the squalid conditions some of the tenants living in Camden’s 8,585 HMOs are forced to endure.

Cllr Hayward said: “We want safe and decent homes for our residents and we know that tenants, landlords and people living near privately rented homes, think we can do more.”

Currently landlords only need to apply for a HMO licence if they intend to convert their property into a “large HMO” - any property which is at least three storeys high and houses at least five tenants, forming more than one household, who each share a toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with another tenant.

The deadline for residents wishing to take part in the consultation has been extended until midnight on November 28.

If you wish to take part, visit camden.gov.uk/landlordlicence