Council Housing Company To Offer Rent To Buy

Liverpool City Council’s housing company is set to start building homes for a new Rent to Buy scheme. The company, Foundations, will start with a pilot of 14 new homes in Dingle in the south of the city if the council’s cabinet approves the plans at a meeting on 21 June. People will be able to rent a home at 80% of the market rate in order to help them save towards a mortgage to buy the property, with the option to purchase after 12 months and for up to five years at market value. The scheme will be available to people who live or work in Liverpool and are first-time buyers or have had to sell a home because of a relationship breakdown. Read more on the Speye Joe blog.

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Landlord Licensing Scheme Branded a “Populist Vanity Project”

A new licensing scheme for landlords in Liverpool has been condemned as a “vanity project” that will do nothing to protect tenants from crooks. The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) hit out at Liverpool City Council’s scheme.  All private landlords in the city must apply for a five-year licence for each of their rented properties as a way, the council argues, of improving standards in the sector. But with over 23% of households in the city in private rented housing, the RLA is warning that the scheme will not protect tenants. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Liverpool Landlords Licensing Scheme Coming

Liverpool City Council has announced details of the mandatory private landlord licence requirements coming into force on Wednesday 1st April 2015. The RLA was involved throughout the consultation process  and met with Council Officials on a number  of occasions and we are pleased to see that accredited landlords, and those part of a council approved Coregulation Scheme are being offered a discount on licence fees. Standard licence fees stand at £400 for initial properties, with an extra £350 for additional properties – licences will be valid for the duration of the five year scheme.   Read more on the RLA website.

Tories Create New North-South for Bedroom Tax Victims

Victims of the Bedroom Tax in the north of England are being denied help because of the Tory-run Government’s unfair funding system. Liverpool Council was given £2million to help 14,355 people who pleaded for discretionary housing payments after being hit by the hated tax and the cap on benefits. But Conservative-led Westminster Council in London got £4.82million from the Department for Work and Pensions despite only 2,089 requests for help, a report by Inside Housing found. Labour-controlled Liverpool could only hand out £143 per applicant while Westminster could afford to pay £2,038 each. Read more on the Daily Mirror website.

Councils Reject 70,000 Crisis Fund Requests

English councils turned down more than 70,000 applications for emergency housing assistance last year, despite £9 million of funding being handed back to government. Research by Inside Housing has revealed that while 153 councils underspent their discretionary housing payment allocations in 2013/14, others turned away thousands of applicants and still spent well over their allocated amount. Liverpool Council had a DHP pot of £2.06 million and received 14,355 requests for help, effectively giving it £143 per applicant. However, Westminster Council received £4.82 million of DHP funding but only 2,089 applications, equating to £2,038 per applicant. Overall, 19 councils received less than £200 per applicant - all of them in the north or the midlands. A total of 17 councils received more than £700 per applicant, all of them in London and the south east. Read more on Inside Housing.

£6m Empty Homes Boost For Liverpool

Liverpool City Council is delivering a new, £6 million programme to bring an additional 1,000 properties back into use. The Council is investing the funds from its capital reserves, to build on the huge amount of progress which has been made in tackling the problem of empty homes in the city since 2012. The investment will see a range of new initiatives being carried out over the next four years, including:

• Acquiring long-term vacant properties from owners who wish to sell, so they can be refurbished.

• Stepping up enforcement work, with more robust legal support to take action against owners.

• Working in partnership with social housing providers to target problem properties and problem neighbourhoods. Read more on the Liverpool Express website.

Successful Human Rights Appeal against Bedroom Tax

A tribunal has found imposing the bedroom tax on a father who said he needed a second room to accommodate his teenage daughter when she stays with him was an infringement of his human rights. A first-tier tribunal upheld a housing benefit award appeal by a tenant against Liverpool Council. The decision is not binding on other tribunal decisions and does not set a legal precedent. Read more on Inside Housing.

Council Issues Advice to Tenants Challenging the Bedroom Tax

Liverpool City Council, with around 11,000 social housing tenants affected by the policy, is issuing guidance to help its tenants beat the bedroom tax.  For those mounting challenges, the Council advises:

*There is no charge for submitting an appeal or asking for information from the council to support the appeal;

*Where landlord and tenant dispute the number of bedrooms in the home, the council will treat any such cases as appeals and look carefully at the circumstances to review the decision;

*If somebody believes the council has assessed their claim using incorrect or out of date information, they should contact the Benefits Service.

Read more on 24dash.