Developers Have Used A Legal Loophole To Dodge Building 10,000 Affordable Homes

Developers have dodged providing more than 10,000 affordable homes due to the government’s failure to close a loophole in the law. Using ‘permitted development rights’, builders have sidestepped their duty to provide affordable homes when they convert non-residential buildings like office blocks. The rules were designed to speed up the planning process, as they allow developers to transform a property without having to apply for town halls’ planning permission – something which could see council chiefs demand social housing as part of planning conditions. A Shelter analysis shows that 10,340 affordable homes have been lost over the last three years in England as a result. Read more on the Huff Post website.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/exclusive-legal-loophole-let-developers-dodge-building-10000-affordable-homes_uk_5c0a5b6ee4b0de79357bc719?guccounter=1&guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_cs=ui8UWkGixenym8oUoZYVyw

Law Fails To Stop Rogue Landlords

Convicted landlords who have been ruled unfit to rent out their properties are continuing to operate by exploiting loopholes in the law that is supposed to protect the most vulnerable tenants. The rogue owners are collecting rents – often funded by taxpayers via housing benefit – despite being convicted of housing offences and failing to pass the “fit and proper” person tests required by housing legislation in England and Wales. Because of the way the law is written, this is usually perfectly legal. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/oct/23/rogue-landlords-rental-law-guardian-itv-news

'Loophole' Developers Use To Avoid Building More Affordable Homes

House builders are using a “legal loophole” to wriggle out of developing thousands of affordable homes in order to maximise profits.  Shelter has released a dossier it claims shows the number of affordable homes in new-builds drops drastically after developers submit a “viability assessment” when applying for permission to build. These assessments allow developers to put in planning applications which do not hit council targets for affordable homes – claiming if they were to build those houses it would mean profits would be severely reduced. One council told HuffPost UK it feels it has no choice but to accept the lower affordable housing figure, or risk no development happening at all. Read more on the Huffington Post website.

Councils Combat HMO Conversion Scam

A housing benefit scam forcing people to live in poor and dangerous accommodation needs shutting down and more rogue landlords should be jailed, councils urge. The Local Government Association (LGA) is calling on government to close a legal loophole which allows landlords to convert properties into multiple tiny “units” which are marketed as self-contained flats in order to secure the maximum level of housing benefit payments. The loophole abuses legal exemptions and the lack of clarity in environmental health, planning and housing benefit rules to avoid detection and is resulting in widespread abuse of taxpayers’ money, as well as housing tenants in poor and often dangerous accommodation. Read more on 24housing.

Housing Association Secures Refunds for 788 Bedroom Tax Tenants

A Kent housing association has used its unique ‘unregistered’ status to secure 788 tenants bedroom tax refunds worth in total more than £500,000. MHS Homes, which owns 8,500 homes, used a loophole to persuade Medway Council to reverse the benefit cut imposed on tenants deemed to have spare rooms. MHS was able to exempt its tenants from the bedroom tax because although it is a large scale voluntary transfer (LSVT) association, it is unusual in not being registered as a provider with the HCA. Because of MHS’s LSVT status, its tenants are also exempt from local housing allowance restrictions (LHA). It is the only landlord in the country whose tenants are exempt from both bedroom tax and LHA limits. Read more on Inside Housing.

Bill to Close Energy Efficiency Loophole for HMOs in Parliament

A trade body has thrown its support behind a private members bill that would require houses of multiple occupation to comply with upcoming minimum energy standards for the private rented sector. Dr Alan Whitehead, Labour MP for Southampton, first presented the Houses in Multiple Occupation (Energy Performance Certificates and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards) Bill 2014-15 in July. It aims to address a loophole in the regulations that currently excludes homes let on a room-by-room basis from the upcoming energy-efficiency private rented sector regulations, ensuring all properties will have to meet a prescribed level of energy efficiency before they can be legally let. Read more on Inside Housing.

Bedroom Tax Refund for 267 Nottingham Households

More than £170,000 is to be handed back to 267 households in Nottingham after a loophole in housing benefit changes introduced last April. The so-called "bedroom tax" means people who are deemed to under-occupy their homes by one bedroom losing 14 per cent of their housing benefit. For two bedrooms, this rises to 25 per cent. The Government says the benefit changes are necessary to deal with the country's finances and around 5,500 people in the city were affected. However, a loophole in the legislation meant those who have been receiving housing benefit continuously since 1996 should not have been liable for the under-occupancy charge. This money will now be refunded. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Bedroom Tax Loophole

Social housing tenants can avoid the hated Bedroom Tax by using their spare room to set up a business. Then they won’t have to pay an extra £14 a week because they can prove they are using extra bedrooms, the Sunday People reports. Amazingly the loophole was revealed by a Government spokesman in the House of Lords. Earl Attlee, who is a Tory despite being grandson of Labour post-war PM Clem Attlee, said: “The spare room subsidy encourages people to make full use of their property and to ­consider running a small business. I think that is highly desirable.” Read more on the Sunday People website.

Majority of Lib Dem MPs Vote to Close Bedroom Tax Loophole

The majority of Liberal Democrat MPs voted to close a loophole in the bedroom tax during a House of Commons motion. Of parliament's 57 Lib Dems, 34 voted to close the loophole, which exempts people who have been continuously claiming housing benefit since 1996 from the same residence from paying the controversial under-occupancy charge, with none voting to leave it in place. High profile Lib Dems who voted to close the loophole included party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, Business Secretary Vince Cable, Minister of State for the Home Office Norman Baker, and party president Tim Farron. Read more on 24dash.

More Than 16,000 Affected By Bedroom Tax Loophole

More than 16,000 people have been wrongly charged the bedroom tax and are exempt under the loophole, freedom of information requests submitted by the Labour Party have revealed. The party received FOI information from 140 local authorities, despite submitting requests to 346 councils, and the total number wrongly charged households was 16,460. This figure revealed by the FOI requests is three times more than the Department for Work and Pensions estimated. Read more on Inside Housing.

Date Confirmed For Bedroom Tax Loophole to Close

An error in bedroom tax regulations will be fixed from 3 March, the Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed. A loophole in bedroom tax regulations will be closed from 3 March. Iain Duncan Smith has laid regulations in parliament which will close a loophole which emerged in January. Read full details on the legislation.gov website.

DWP Stands By Low Loophole Estimate

The DWP has revealed how it calculated just 3,000 people might be affected by a bedroom tax loophole, after criticism of its low estimate. The DWP said just 3,000 to 5,000 households will benefit from a technical error in the bedroom tax regulations. The DWP’s estimate is below that of others, with some estimating around 40,000 could be affected.  A DWP spokesperson said the single housing benefit extract, a data source from councils, allows the DWP to search for claimants dating back to 1 January 1996. The DWP estimate relies on 380 authorities recording the data in exactly the same way, for every week for the last 18 years. Read more on Inside Housing.

The Bedroom Tax Error Explained

A newly discovered bedroom tax loophole could see tens of thousands of households paid back millions in housing benefit payments. But who will be affected by it and what happens next?

·         What is the bedroom tax loophole?

·         Who is affected?

·         Are there any exceptions?

·         How many tenants affected by the bedroom tax are eligible?

·         What are they entitled to?

·         How much can they expect to receive?

·         Are tenants who qualify for this exempted from the bedroom tax    permanently?

·         Will local councils inform affected tenants?

·         What if tenants have already qualified for council crisis payments to  cover the shortfall?

·         I'm a tenant who meets the criteria. What do I do now?

Find the answers to all of the above on the Guardian website.

Thousands Have Had Bedroom Tax Imposed In Error

Thousands of social housing tenants will be temporarily exempted from the bedroom tax as a result of a ‘technical error’ in legislation. The DWP have issued an ‘urgent bulletin’ saying tenants meeting specific criteria should have the cut in their bedroom tax removed until legislation is amended. The DWP also said councils should refund deductions made since last April. The exemption applies to tenants who have been continuously claiming housing benefit from before 1 January 1996 and have lived at the same address. This is because the ‘eligible rent’ referred to in bedroom tax regulations does not apply prior to 1 January 1996, when a previous set of rules existed. A number of housing experts told Inside Housing yesterday, before the DWP’s circular, that tenants would have a good chance of using the loophole to overturn benefit decision at tribunal. Read more on the Speye blog.

Council Housing 70 Families in 'Loophole' Accommodation

A London council is housing 70 homeless families in temporary ‘annexe’ accommodation, it has emerged. Westminster Council, which was criticised for housing families in bed and breakfasts beyond the six week legal limit in September, was accused of using a ‘loophole’ in the law by opposition councillors. It is illegal to house families in B&Bs for more than six weeks, but there is no legal limit if the accommodation is ‘self-contained’, meaning it has its own front door. There has been dispute over what constitutes ‘annexe’ accommodation – Labour councillors say they are merely bedrooms with a gas ring and a bathroom but sources close to the council say the annexes are more like studio flats. The council has so far refused to give the details of where the annexes are located.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Council Takes £2m from HRA

The Audit Commission has accused Medway Council of ignoring the advice of its external auditors by shifting £2 million from a ‘ring-fenced’ housing budget to its general fund. The Kent authority’s chief executive employed ‘special urgency’ powers in September to raid its housing revenue account, council papers from last month reveal. Such powers allow senior officials to make urgent decisions which are approved later by councillors. The £2 million raid makes Medway the fifth council to sanction such controversial transfers on the advice of consultancy Capita. The CLG is probing the ‘appropriateness’ of the move. In total, £37.5 million is now known to have been taken from council housing budgets during September before the legal ‘loophole’ pinpointed by Capita was sealed by the government on 1 October. Read more on Inside Housing.