MORE HMOs could be coming to a street which already has one of the highest numbers of the rented homes in all of Oxford.

A house in multiple occupation application has been made for a home on Divinity Road, alongside four others in the latest Oxford City Council planning list.

Residents of the street have previously complained there are too many of the shared homes there already.

And the latest application, now open to public comments, has already drawn two neighbours to complain.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus outbreak - Final Wuhan flight to land in Oxfordshire

Tom Miller of Divinity Road, wrote to the council to object.

Mr Miller's letter said: "Frankly, it beggars belief that the council would consider granting an HMO licence to any more houses on Divinity Road.

"The proportion of HMO dwellings here is already one of the highest in the city.

He added: "They are often badly managed and generate far more rubbish and noise than family owned properties."

Oxford Mail:

Divinity Road. Picture: Google Maps.

Dr Tom Kuhn of nearby Warneford Road, said: "The area is already very full of HMOs, mostly let to students, and, although they are welcome in small numbers, this all too often results in noise disturbance, litter, and often the general and slow degradation of properties - all of which are detrimental to the residential character of these streets."

The other four HMO applications are at: Herschel Crescent in Littlemore, Abingdon Road, and Benson Road and Massey Close in Headington.

Another application for an HMO was in the middle of one of Oxford's historic conservation zones in Iffley, but the owner of the Church Way home has withdrawn it.

HMOs are defined by being accommodation with three or more tenants who are not related to one another.

ALSO READ: Girl, 15, hospitalised after pub served her egg despite her severe allergies

In Oxford, the city council has used legal powers to make a list of all the HMOs in the city and their landlords since 2010.

The latest version of the register available on the city council website for January 2020 has 3,138 HMOs listed in the city.

Oxford has the 14th highest number of HMOs in England and Wales and 20 per cent of the city’s population is estimated to live in these homes, many of them students and commuters.

The council is currently planning to expand its HMO licensing scheme to cover all private-rented landlords across Oxford.

The council is also planning to create a database of every private rented home or flat in the city, which it could use to keep an eye on landlords treating their tenants badly.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 33 per cent of Oxford homes were privately rented in 2017.