The National Landlords Association (NLA), the leading representative body for private residential landlords in the UK, has roundly condemned government plans which it says will reduce the supply of shared housing.

Housing and planning minister John Healey has revealed plans which will require planning permission for new shared housing where three or more unrelated people live together.

Twenty per cent of private rented sector properties are now shared, a figure which is rising year on year.

Houses of multiple occupation play a vital role in providing much needed housing for students, young professionals and those on low incomes who rely on this type of affordable accommodation, says the NLA.

Large cities across the UK greatly depend on shared housing as a first step.

By making it more difficult and costly for landlords to provide this type of accommodation, the measures will reduce choice for tenants and increase pressure on local authority housing lists.

The Rugg Review, an independent review of the private-rented sector commissioned by the government, has already dismissed the changes to the planning system as an "extreme response" which local authorities are ill-equipped to handle.

The statement also outlines proposals to give councils general consent to introduce licensing schemes without seeking permission from central government in so-called hotspot areas.

The current rules require local authorities to justify to the secretary of state the need for any new licensing scheme.

The NLA says these proposals will result in a NIMBYs' charter which will create no-go areas for landlords, students, young professionals, low-income families, migrant workers and a wide range of other groups who rely upon shared private rented sector housing.

David Salusbury, chairman of the NLA, said: "The government has bowed to a small minority who shouted the loudest.

"It has ignored the vital role these homes play in contributing to vibrant and mixed communities.

"These plans will do nothing to improve housing or increase choice for tenants but are more about placating local protest groups in certain parts of the country.

"If the government was really interested in dealing with anti-social behaviour and property standards in the small minority of places where they are an issue, they would have taken up the NLA's calls for more targeted local management action by councils working with landlords in their areas."