I am pleased Mike Stimpson (Letters, April 17) shares the aspirations of Brighton and Hove City Council for its new registration scheme for houses in multiple occupation.

Unfortunately, he has confused the scheme, which places a duty on landlords to register their properties, with the existing minimum room standards, which were adopted following the amalgamation of Brighton and Hove councils in 1997. These are two separate matters.

It is not true room size standards in Westminster and Bournemouth are half the size of our standards.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has set a standard of 13 sq m for a single bed-sit and this minimum standard is adopted by councils up and down the country.

The minimum size for a bedsit in Brighton and Hove is 14 sqm. However, officers use their professional experience and discretion and if a room is marginally smaller than this but well arranged, they will allow up to 10 per cent smaller room size.

Mr Stimpson speaks of 46 units of accommodation lost to date because of the minimum room size but, when requested by housing officers, has not been able to substantiate this claim.

The real statistic is that 47 per cent of the 4,000 households who presented themselves to the council as homeless last year did so because the landlord made a business decision and served tenants with notice to quit. This had nothing to do with the introduction of the council's registration scheme.

Mr Stimpson has missed the point on fuel poverty. Bedsits are, on the whole, expensive to heat because many do not have central heating and are poorly insulated. Most tenants are forced to resort to single gas or electric fires.

The council has consulted with and met landlords and their managing agents and is aiming to improve standards for many vulnerable and disadvantaged people in private-sector tenants.

-Coun Tehmtan Framroze, Executive Councillor (Housing Services), Brighton and Hove City Council