EFFORTS have been stepped up to tackle problems linked with houses of multiple occupation (HMOs).

Joint action has been taken by Fenland District Council and partner agencies against three properties in Wisbech where there have been allegations of significant nuisance and anti-social behaviour.

Residents have now left two of them and a third is being closely monitored.

Councillor Kit Owen, portfolio holder for housing, gave details of the action in an update on the work that is being done on HMOs.

He told councillors that he had recently convened a special meeting involving FDC and other key agencies, including the police, Fire and Rescue Service and Alan Brace, the senior Parliamentary assistant to Steve Barclay, MP for NE Cambs.

He said the multi-agency approach was very successful. In particular, intelligence gathering and joined-up action had been greatly improved as a result of a new, web-based data sharing system that was now in operation.

It enabled all the agencies to share key information and knowledge. This had highlighted 27 high-risk properties where coordinated work was now under way.

In the past year FDC had undertaken 200 investigations into HMOs, leading to 166 active interventions and a 24 per cent reduction in the number of reports of anti-social behaviour.