Lets talk: THE Young Ones was hardly the epitome of harmonious living, while the stormy relations of the twentysomething professionals in This Life would have put some in two minds about sharing a flat.

However, the option of living with a number of your peers could soon be a thing of the past, according to the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), which is warning that new legislation could spell the end of shared tenancies.

After 2003, all flats and houses in Scotland shared by three or more unrelated individuals will be deemed as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and will be subject to inspection and have to meet strict standards.

ARLA says that landlords are likely to stop letting to sharers if they have to meet requirements such as emergency telephones, fire safety procedures, fire doors as well as a stipulated number of bathrooms.

''There is no need to destroy the opportunity for small groups of like-minded but unrelated people to share a pleasant property that would be otherwise beyond their means,'' says Frances Burkinshaw, chairman of ARLA.

''If sharers are jointly and severally responsible for their tenancy as a family, there is no need for their homes to be institutionalised as a bedsit at the whim of bureaucracy.

''If we allow this to happen, sharers will join housing benefit tenants as the pariahs of the entire housing market, through no fault of themselves or the market.''

William Frame, managing director of Braemore, which manages more than 600 properties in Edinburgh, says: ''The rental property market has moved on from the days when there were large numbers of bedsits managed by private landlords and there is a currently a good selection of quality rental properties across Edinburgh.

''It would be a great shame if this market was adversely affected by bungling, heavy-handed and ineffectual bureaucracy.''

He says the majority of landlords do all that they can to ensure the safety and well-being of tenants and that he is concerned that the new legislation will be administered by the local authority.

''Not only do many council services leave a great deal to be desired, but individual councils would also have different interpretations of the legislation.''

However, the Scottish Executive defended the new laws which were passed quickly north of the Border as a result of an Order under the Civic

Government (Scotland) Act 1982, a option that does not exist under England and Wales.

A Scottish Executive Spokesman says: ''The purpose of mandatory licensing of HMOs is to provide safe accommodation of a reasonable quality for tenants. Good landlords have nothing to fear from the scheme which will raise the standard of shared properties.

''To suggest that HMOs are synonymous with bedsits is to ignore a wide range of other forms of shared accommodation. In Scotland, many problems have been experienced with shared flats, which are generally not divided into bedsits. Poor conditions can be found in small HMOs as well as larger ones, which is why the occupancy threshold for licensing will come down to three or more in October 2003.''

ARLA intend to launch an industry-wide campaign to allow sharers the option to occupy dwellings in the traditional manner. If successful, it will result in Scotland's law remaining tighter than the rules applied to tenancies in the rest of the UK, possibly leading to a shortage of places for young people to stay and higher rents.

Frame adds: ''The legislation would also have a negative impact on groups such as students who prefer to share with friends - living in a shared flat is part of the fun-filled growing up process.''