Every HMO needs a licence to make sure health and safety standards are met for residents. The council has recently updated the charging structure for licenses, bringing it into line with other local authorities, and making sure the increasing costs of administering the system were not passed on to taxpayers. Fees have not been increased since 2006.

John Mills, Fife Council’s head of housing services, said: “Any suggestion that the council is somehow responsible for a rise in student rents is just scaremongering.

“Based on current figures, the University charges £21,000 for an individual student over three years. Our HMO fee for one student in that time (in an HMO of five people) is under £300. My understanding is that St Andrews University charges one of the highest residential fees in Scotland. There has to be some perspective here.”

Mr Mills added: “The new charging structure now covers the full cost of the HMO licensing service, including administration, property inspections and verification, democracy and compliance costs. We’ve moved from a flat-based fee structure to one that takes account of the number of occupants in an HMO, and the resources spent on each application through a sliding scale of charges.

“There should be no suggestion that this will lead to rent rises for students. Any rises in rent are at the discretion of the University, and there is nothing to suggest that a rise in the fees the council charges for HMO licenses should be passed on to students. Any charges are a very small proportion of the rental income received by HMO owners.

“I would urge any parents or students who are concerned about a potential rise in rents to raise this directly with the University, as the organisation deciding how much should be charged for student housing.”