LGA Has Another Go At Right To Buy Reform

Having been snubbed by the Spending Review, the LGA is having another go at Right To Buy (RTB) reform, hoping the Queen’s Speech has scope for councils retaining all receipts and setting discounts locally to boost housebuilding. Pitching a seven-point plan to boost public services, the LGA proposes a new Housing and Planning Bill to empower council-home delivery – with provision for streamlining the local plan process and greater powers to act where housebuilding has stalled, scrapping permitted development rights – and devolve RTB. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/lga-sets-out-queens-speech-seven-point-plan-boost-public-services

'Fit For Human Habitation' Amendment May Be Reconsidered After London Fire

A proposed amendment to the government's Housing and Planning Bill which suggests landlords are required to make homes 'fit for human habitation' may be reconsidered following the fire at Grenfell Tower. The amendment was tabled by the Labour Party last year, but was defeated by MPs following a vote of 312 to 219. The proposal was also included in Labour's manifesto for the General Election. According to a report on The London Economic website, Parliament's register of interests shows that 72 of the Conservative MPs who voted against the amendment were themselves private landlords. Read more on the Letting Agent Today website.

Tories Reveal Their Big Housing Reform - The Home Information Pack

The Conservatives have revealed the idea behind their manifesto pledge to “reform and modernise the home-buying process so it is more efficient and less costly” - and it’s a new version of the Home Information Packs. Michael Gove told the BBC: “One of the things we can revisit is Home Information Packs.” Just over a year ago the then-housing minister Brandon Lewis inserted an amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill which many interpreted as Home Information Packs being resuscitated. They have in the past year been associated with various efforts by the Cameron and May governments to call for evidence into transaction fall-throughs - but the Gove revelation was the most explicit suggestion yet that HIPs are returning. Read more on the Estate Agent Today website.

Ministers Face Battle To Get Housing Bill Into Law

The government remains in a race against time to get its promise to build 200,000 starter homes into law. Peers defied ministers over its Housing Bill, voting to reinstate a number of measures rejected by MPs. They backed calls to give councils more room to consider alternative sources of affordable housing while allowing them to keep part of the money when they sell off high value homes. Ministers have made several concessions after suffering 18 defeats on the bill. The bill is "ping-ponging" between the two houses - with the government desperate to get it into law before the end of the current parliamentary session. If it fails to do so, it could see its manifesto commitment to building hundreds of thousands of "starter homes" in England and Wales delayed. Read more on the BBC website.

Next Battle Is Housing Regulations

Campaigners must continue their battle by tackling new regulations, a Labour peer has urged. Ahead of a crucial stage of the Housing and Planning Bill, a backbench Labour member of the House of Lords said shaping the regulations on critical issues such as Right to Buy will be the final stage of the battle for social housing. The regulations are being drafted separately from the controversial legislation by a team of CLG civil servants and will not come under parliamentary scrutiny. Baroness Ruth Lister gave a briefing to housing campaigners and called on them to continue their campaign after the legislation is passed to focus on the rules that will affect local authorities and housing associations. Read more on 24dash.

ALMOs Call For Exemption From Deregulatory Plan

Arm’s-length management organisations (ALMOs) are calling on the government to exclude them from proposals to limit the influence of councils over registered providers. There are nine ALMOs that also hold registered provider status with the Homes and Communities Agency and therefore could be affected by a government amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill. The amendment seeks to limit the influence of councils over registered providers by allowing the secretary of state to remove council voting rights from registered provider boards.  ALMOs are concerned that the removal of council members from their boards would significantly alter their board structures. Read more on Inside Housing.

Housing Bill Should Also Include Rogue Tenants List

The Housing and Planning Bill, which includes measures to tackle criminal landlords and letting agents, should also address the issue of problem tenants. Included in the Bill are proposals to ban and fine criminal landlords and letting agents, introduce rent repayment orders and establish a database of 'blacklisted' landlords and agents. It has been proposed that the 'blacklist' will be maintained by local housing authorities, who will also have to apply for offenders to be included in the database. The AIIC, who are calling for these measures, says it welcomes aiming to stamp out the minority of criminal operators letting property to the nation's tenants. However, the association says more could be done to highlight the issue of problem tenants. Read more on 24dash.

Councils Hit Out At LSVT Association Deregulation

Councils have warned that deregulation proposals would prevent them holding stock transfer associations to account and make future stock transfers less attractive to tenants. The government tabled an amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill which would allow the secretary of state to limit or remove the ability of councils to “exert influence” over large scale voluntary transfer (LSVT) associations.  This includes giving housing associations the power to remove board members appointed by a council and removing local authorities’ ability to appoint or remove board members to stock transfer association boards. Several councils have hit out at the plans. Read more on Inside Housing.

More Bill Amendment Defeats For The Government

The government has suffered more defeats in the Lords during the report stage of the housing and planning bill.  The requirement to instigate pay to stay will now be voluntary for councils as it is for Housing Associations. The government was also defeated over its taper proposals. It wanted a 20 per cent taper but peers opted for a 10 per cent taper.  Another successful amendment resisted by ministers means the pay to stay income threshold will be increased to £50,000 a year in London and £40,000 outside London. The government wanted to have the thresholds set at £31,000 outside London and £40,000 in London. In another move the government has now accepted that the regulation on council house sales to fund the right to buy extension will now be decided by parliament instead of ministers alone. Read more on the Planning Portal.

Government Extends Fixed-Term Tenancies For Disabled

Councils will be able to grant longer tenancies of up to 10 years to people with disabilities, a peer speaking on behalf of the government has announced.The Housing and Planning Bill will phase out lifetime council tenancies and replace them with tenancies of up to five years.Under the proposals, councils would have to grant tenancies to new tenants of between two and five years. However, Baroness Natalie Evans, government whip, told the House of Lords that the government would bring forward amendments to extend the maximum tenancy period to 10 years in “certain circumstances”. Baroness Evans said that the government would ensure this includes people with disabilities. More detail is expected in further readings of the bill. Read more on Inside Housing.

Selling Off Affordable Homes ‘Would Add £4bn To Housing Benefit Bill’

The government’s proposed sell-off of thousands of affordable homes could add more than £4bn to the housing benefit bill over the next 30 years, Labour has claimed. The sum emerged from an opposition analysis of the housing bill. The bill calls for the sale of low-rent housing, which the housing charity Shelter has estimated will mean the loss of 19,000 council homes and 66,500 housing association homes. “If you sell off genuinely affordable homes and don’t replace them, then people on lower incomes will be forced into more expensive private rented accommodation and this will mean higher housing benefit spending to cover the cost,” said John Healey, shadow secretary of state for housing. Read more on Welfare Weekly.

Peers Overturn 20 Per Cent Starter Home Requirement

The government’s starter homes policy suffered serious setbacks in the Lords as peers voted through amendments to the housing and planning bill designed to safeguard affordable housing. One amendment would allow councils discretion over how many starter homes are required in new residential developments. The government had wanted the legislation to require that at least 20 per cent of new housing on larger sites would be starter homes. As a result of this change, planning authorities will be able to “grant planning permission for a residential development having had regard to the provision of starter homes based on its own assessment of local housing need and viability”. Read more on the Planning Portal website.

Government Has “Lost All Credibility” On Housing

The Government is coming under increased pressure to change tack on housing policies, after it suffered a further defeat in the Lords and offered new concessions on the Housing & Planning Bill. Under the provisions of the Bill, councils are expected to sell their high value stock and a proportion of the proceeds surrendered to the Treasury to pay for the scheme’s extension to housing associations. Peers took issue with this, the concern being that the Bill opened the way for ministers to change the payment regime at will. Consequently, they backed an amendment that forces the Government to seek parliamentary approval if they wish to change the rules on right-to-buy proceeds. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Housing Bill Is Being Demolished In The House Of Lords

Climbdowns being forced on the Housing Bill include:

1.       The Treasury has been blocked from keeping the proceeds of the forced sale of high-value council houses without parliamentary approval.

2.       The Government will consider a proposal to ensure a one-for-one - and like-for-like - replacement of council homes sold under the forced sale.

3.       Ministers have accepted a proposal to make it harder for landlords to evict vulnerable people that have abandoned their homes.

4.       A flagship scheme to hand well-off first-time buyers a taxpayer-funded 20% discount on a starter home has been moderated.

5.       Another defeat means English councils can decide how many starter homes are built in their area.

Read more on the Huffington Post.

Council Sell-Off Rules To Face Parliamentary Scrutiny

Rules on council home sales to fund the Right to Buy extension will be decided by parliament instead of ministers alone after a government climbdown in the House of Lords. Regulations setting out the definition of high- value homes will now be subject to “affirmative approval”, meaning both Houses of Parliament will be able to vote on them, the government has agreed. Despite this concession, the government then lost a vote in the Lords on an opposition amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill, which sought to force all the rules on high-value sales – not just the high-value definition – to be made through regulations and subject to parliamentary approval. Read more on Inside Housing.

Lords Starter Homes Amendments Give Government Headache

The report stage in the House of Lords saw peers strike several blows to government policy on Starter Homes. Two amendments, one and eight, were passed by the Lords as they looked to safeguard affordable housing against starter homes. Amendment one, passed with a 275-181 vote, was regarding the starter homes discount taper being 20 years instead of the government proposed eight. The second, amendment eight led by Lord Kerslake, seeks to allow local authorities to have discretion on starter homes numbers. Read more on 24dash.

Government Defeated Over Housing Bill

The Government has faced a series of defeats on the Housing Bill. Councillors and MPs have expressed concern about the impact on the supply of affordable rented properties.  Some have also raised concerns about the ability to prioritise local families under new rules, and the threat to keeping local housing affordable "in perpetuity". However, the House of Lords have been successful in passing an amendment that goes some way to addressing these criticisms. Peers voted 275-181 in favour of extending the life time of the Starter Home discount to 20 years instead of eight. This means the discount will now be reduced by 1/20th a year – instead of 1/8th – in a bid to deter buyers from "cashing in". Peers have also voted in favour of an amendment to give local authorities more powers to decide the appropriate level of Starter Homes for their local area.  Read more on the Plymouth Herald website.

End Of Long-Term Tenancies Will ‘Damage Family Life’

Ministers face intense pressure to drop plans to end long-term, secure tenancies for families in social housing, amid rising concern that it would harm the education of children and damage family life. The former head of the civil service Lord Kerslake, now a crossbench peer, said that the proposals, which were quietly inserted by the government into the housing and planning bill at the end of last year, were unacceptable.  Kerslake, who is backed by Labour and Liberal Democrat peers as well as other crossbenchers and bishops, said that families would lack any sense of security about where their long-term home was, and that children would have to move schools several times during their years in education. Read more on the Observer website.

Tory Local Government Leader Asks Lords To Block Housing Reforms

The Conservative leader in local government is urging peers to vote against the government on a number of key amendments to the housing bill amid fears it could force more people into homelessness. Cllr David Hodge – leader of the Tories at the Local Government Association (LGA) – warns that elements of the bill being debated in the Lords could have the “unintended consequence of increasing homelessness and pushing more families into the more expensive private rented sector”. Hodge has teamed up with his Labour and Liberal Democrat counterparts to ask members of the House of Lords to try to block legislation that would force councils to sell their most expensive properties in order to fund the government’s Right to Buy policy. Read more on the Guardian website.

Lender Concerns Prompt Housing Bill Change

Ministers are set to change the Housing and Planning Bill following concerns that a new system of managing sector insolvencies would lead to lenders asking social landlords for more security. Within weeks, the government is expected to table amendments to the proposed legislation, which is currently going through the House of Lords. The Bill as it stands would potentially damage lenders’ ability to realise the full value of their security on some loans. The bill allows the communities secretary to appoint an administrator when a housing association collapses. The problem arose because under the current drafting of the bill, the primary aim of the proposed new special administration regime is to ensure social housing assets remain in the social rented sector. Read more on Inside Housing.