Government proposals to clamp down on homes rented by six or more people have sparked opposition from landlord and student groups.

John Denham, the communities and local government secretary, is considering new laws that would allow councils to stop three or more undergraduates from renting shared homes in areas with large student populations.

His move follows complaints that areas in some towns and cities are turning into student “ghettos”.

The issue of “studentification” in the city was considered by a ad-hoc panel of councillors from Brighton and Hove City Council earlier this year.

It made 37 recommendations to help students and residents live peacefully side by side.

They included asking students should to keep their windows shut to stop residents being disturbed and more teams of council officials patrolling the streets, looking for people making a nuisance by playing loud music late at night.

Under current rules landlords have to apply for permission to rent out houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs) to six or more unrelated people.

The new law would lower the number to three.

The department for communities and local government said: “Students bring benefits to the places they live in, but too many residing in one area can run down neighbourhoods and leave places as ghost towns in the summer.”

However the plans have been slammed by property experts who say that using planning laws to restrict HMOs will raise rents and drive out the students, young professionals and immigrants who rent them because they are affordable.

The British Property Federation, National Landlords Association, Residential Landlords Association and the National Union of Students (NUS) say the proposals dubbed a “nimby's charter" will not help.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “You can’t use the planning system for social engineering or to tackle anti-social behaviour.

“Only a tiny fraction of places suffer from a high concentrations of HMOs and using a broad brush approach to deal with different issues relating to anti-social behaviour makes no sense.”

NUS president Wes Streeting said: "These proposals would marginalise students by forcing them to pay private companies to live in large ghettos away from the rest of the community.

“It is critical that the Government takes a thoughtful and consultative approach to any problems that may have arisen in certain areas, rather than resorting to an ineffective headline-grabbing initiative."