THOUSANDS of people in Oxford are still living in shared houses below the minimum standards despite a council crackdown.

Inspectors have discovered cockroach infestations, damp, electrical hazards and poor fire safety in some of the homes across the city.

Since January 2011, Oxford City Council has tightened up the rules for landlords renting houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) – classed as having three people or more from different families living in them.

As of last June, two-thirds of all licensed HMOs were still deemed to be below an acceptable standard.

There are 3,440 licensed HMOs in the city, but the number of unlicensed HMOs is thought to be at a similar level.

It is estimated one in five people in Oxford live in an HMO, but this number could rise to 10,000 by 2021 – almost a fifth of homes in the city.

And a new report, based on findings from the last four years, said thousands still remain unregulated, with enforcement officers reporting squalid conditions across the city. The licensing scheme is set to be reviewed this summer and a 10-week public consultation will start on June 11.

Before its introduction in 2011, landlords and estate agents criticised the proposals and said they would push up prices of accommodation for students and young professionals.

But Adrian Chowns, who heads the council’s HMO enforcement team, yesterday told the Oxford Mail another five years was needed for the scheme to have “a full impact”.

He said: “HMOs remain a major problem in the city and without these controls the council would be limited in what it could do to help.

“Because of the chronic shortage of housing in Oxford and the number of low-income households, many people can’t afford to own their own home and renting in an HMO is their only realistic option.

“We have not yet had the impact we would like with this scheme, but to pull away now would be the wrong thing to do.”

The licensing scheme, enforced by the council, lowered the threshold requiring landlords to obtain an HMO licence, from six people from different families, to three.

It requires landlords to meet a set of obligations in room sizes, health and safety, fire safety and management, which includes maintaining water and electricity supplies.

But some houses discovered by council officers across the city had a complete lack of kitchen, toilet or shower facilities, or bedrooms adjoining cooking areas with no fire safety precautions.

Since the current licensing scheme was introduced, they have carried out more than 19,700 visits to HMOs and responded to some 2,700 complaints.

Mr Chowns said the number of complaints had slowly fallen since 2011, but there was still “more to do”.

Inspectors placed 49,000 conditions relating to properties that did not meet minimum standards, with 35,000 related to health and safety, 12,600 related to fire safety and 1,600 related to facilities and amenities.

The authority estimates that landlords have spent about £3.2m on improvements to HMOs because of the measures.

‘Good’ landlords can also join an accreditation scheme, paying less to renew their licences and receive training.

City landlord Robin Swailes, director of North Oxford Property Services in Jericho, said his firm supported the HMO scheme, but warned that higher standards would entail higher rents. He said: “Higher standards are not a bad thing and we support good-quality properties in the city. But some of the conditions can be a bit draconian and the resulting increases in licence fees will get passed on to tenants.” Mr Swailes said an example of a condition imposed on properties had included having to repaint a wall so that it matched the others in a room.