Landlords Plan Repairs Cuts

Three quarters of landlords are planning changes to their maintenance services, with half of these planning to cut planned repairs in the face of government cuts, a survey has found. More than 40 landlords owning a total of 400,000 homes answered a survey by Build Recruitment and Housingnet, revealing they are considering a significant shake-up of repairs in light of changes such as the 1% rent cut. A fifth said they are planning redundancies in their repairs section, while a fifth were also planning to bring repairs in-house. Two-thirds of the respondents to the survey were housing associations, almost a fifth were local authorities and the rest include ALMOs and a housing co-op. Read more on the Build website.

Council Plans £100m Commercial Housing Arm

South Cambridgeshire District Council is considering a huge expansion of its commercial housing arm in an attempt to offset government funding cuts and could invest £100 million to purchase properties over five years, raising its rentals portfolio to 500 homes. The authority set up Ermine Street Housing in 2014 and invested £7 million in property to rent as an “ethical commercial landlord”. The company now owns 34 properties worth a total of £6,837,970 providing homes for people who cannot get an affordable housing tenancy, but have found it difficult to rent in the private sector. The expanded company would remain entirely owned by the council and generate a predicted £600,000 a year for the council by the end of year two, according to a council report set to be considered by cabinet members on November 12. Read more on the South Cambs Council website.

'Tackle High Rents Or Face Discretionary Housing Payments Disaster'

Labour councillors have issued a stark warning to Westminster Council Leader, Cllr Philipa Roe, and Cabinet Member for Finance, Cllr Tim Mitchell, who this year are dipping into council reserves due to Conservative government cuts and failure tackle the problem of unaffordable rents in Westminster. This year Westminster Council has seen a massive 46% cut in the government money allocated to support residents unable to meet their rent due to the government’s welfare reforms.  Last year the council was allocated £4.8m in Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP), now the council will receive only £2.6m. This follows years of Westminster Council underspending their DHP allocation and handing money to government. As a result, Westminster Tories have had to raid council reserves for an extra £1.1m to meet the projected shortfall in DHP. Read more on 24dash.

Council Bosses Told To Gamble £30million On Property To Make Up For Government Cuts

Council chiefs could be poised to gamble up to £30million on the property market - to help make up for Government cuts. Devon County Council’s senior councillors are being urged to gamble the cash on the rising property market. The ruling executive will consider a report recommending they sanction an investment in the Churches, Charities and Local Authorities) Property Fund (CCLA) instead of bank deposits. The CCLA fund currently has investments of over £300million, with over 100 local authority investors including Plymouth City Council and four Devon town councils. A report to the cabinet meeting points out the “risk” that property value could go down and that with charges a 3% rise in the market would be required for the authority to break even. Read more on the Plymouth Herald website.