I see your one of the blinkered ones that believes the only cost of a BTL is the mortgage, a little bit more research needed on your part I think
A lot of the problem with HMO's is that every council throughout the country has different rules regarding licencing and a lot of HMO's are created to be under the room limit before a licence is needed therefore it can go on under the radar and swamp the local community.
I think all HMO's should be licenced if only to set a safe and livable standard as some I have seen are in a very poor condition and the landlords appear to have very little regard for their tenants welfare
I know that ll's need to pay for upkeep, insurances, endowments, complying with legislation.....but with my Canterbury example the ll is still many £££ ahead...if we are seeing housing as solely an investment vehicle then the Canterbury situation is great. But on a personal level I think housing should be about the populace having a home. I do think governments should move to discourage the thought that housing is anything other than somewhere for people to live....This is just my opinion....This is not jealousy on my part because im old enough to have been born in a "good" time with regards to housing. I do realize that a certain amount of LL haters fall into the envious young bracket......But I do think they have a point.