Secure Tenancies Bill Passes Third Reading Amid Concerns Over Universal Credit

The Secure Tenancies (Victims of Domestic Violence) has passed its third Commons in Parliament with social housing providers still concerned about the impact of Universal Credit (UC) on victims. These concerns were raised during that reading, once opposition amendments aiming to ease financial pressure on women fleeing violent partners had been voted down. One of those amendments was intended to ensure that victims living in housing association properties had the same rights to secure tenancies as those in council housing – with government benches challenged over a “seeming lack of appreciation” of the variety of council housing available. Read more on 24housing.

http://www.24housing.co.uk/news/secure-tenancies-bill-passes-third-reading-amid-concerns-over-universal-credit/

Secure Tenancies Planned For Domestic Abuse Survivors

The Secure Tenancies (Victims of Domestic Abuse) Bill had its Third Reading in the House of Lords on March 13. This bill follows on from the Government’s draft Domestic Abuse Bill, which outlined a commitment to tackle domestic abuse in its many forms. The Bill will provide a basis for local authorities to give domestic abuse survivors the tools they need to rebuild their lives, preventing the lives of victims and their families from being shattered further. The bill will ensure that those with lifetime tenancies who flee an abusive or violent relationship will not lose their security of tenure if they are provided with a new tenancy by the local authority. Read more on 24housing.

http://www.24housing.co.uk/news/secure-tenancies-planned-for-domestic-abuse-survivors/

Implementation Dates For Housing Act Policies

Regulations introducing Starter Homes are due to come into force in the summer. Housing and Planning Act implementation dates:

·         Starter Homes, in force this summer

·         Secure tenancies, in force this autumn

·         Higher Value Asset sales, in due course, no detail is given on the timing

·         Brownfield registers, spring

·         Housing association insolvency regime, regulations will come before parliament in February

·         Self-build and custom building regulations, 31 October

·         Planning obligations and affordable housing, remains under review

Read more on Inside Housing.

Council Launches Right To Buy Spin Off

Council tenants in Wandsworth who qualify for Right to Buy, but cannot afford it, have been given an ownership alternative. The scheme allows tenants to apply to buy a share of their home with a substantial discount. The percentage being bought would reflect the proportion of the current full £103,900 Right to Buy discount, so for example buying a 25% of a home share would mean a discount of £25,975. To be eligible, applicants must be secure tenants of at least three years’ standing who have not received housing benefit for 12 months before applying, and must also pass an affordability test. Read more on 24housing.

Second Borough Launches Right To Part Buy

Conservative-controlled Wandsworth Council is set to give its secure tenants the opportunity to buy a share in the equity of their home. If approved by the council’s executive committee on 28 November, tenants will be able to buy a minimum of 25% of their home from next year and pay rent on the remaining equity. The discount is calculated as a percentage of the full £103,900 Right to Buy discount, meaning the minimum discount would be £25,975. Tenants will be able to buy more equity, 10% at a time, up to the full cost of the property. The scheme mirrors the ‘Right to Part-Buy’ implemented by Labour-controlled Barking & Dagenham in June this year, under which tenants can buy between 25% and 70% of their property. Read more on Wandsworth Council website.

New Home Building Needs To Address The Needs Of Older People

New home building in the UK to cope with the country’s chronic shortage of housing should not concentrate just on the needs of first time buyers and younger people, according to a new report from the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC-UK).  Whilst the Government’s focus on first time buyers is understandable faster progress in helping these younger generations get on the housing ladder would be made if more energy was put into meeting the housing needs and aspirations of their parents and grandparents. The report calls for more housing to be built by local authorities, a wider range of commissioners of new house building, better rental offers for older people with secure tenancies, more shared ownership options for older people and overall greater choice for older people in general needs housing.  Read more on the ILC website.

Labour Claims Government Facing Housing Bill Defeat

Labour is predicting between “eight and 12 defeats” for the government next month as peers round on its “disastrous” Housing and Planning Bill in the Lords. The House of Lords is likely to reach report stage on the bill after Easter, with four days scheduled in for peers to debate and vote on the bill between 11 and 20 April. Labour, the largest opposition party in the Lords, has now produced a list of 18 amendments which it will prioritise for these sessions – including a substantial watering down of Starter Homes plans, Pay to Stay and the end of secure tenancies. It believes there is “disquiet” among Tory peers about some aspects of the bill, and is also confident of support from crossbenchers and the Liberal Democrats’ 100 peers. Read more on Inside Housing.

'Inconsistent Message' Fuels Rise Of Illegal Subletting

A government that “wants the benefits but ignores the problems” must to do more to tackle a rise in illegal sub-letting says the residential landlords association (RLA) in response to ONS figures showing illegal subletting costs the London Borough of Tower Hamlets alone an estimated £13 million a year. Councils have long been trying to crack down on the problem, but the trends are travelling in the other direction propelled, says Mr Smith, by an “inconsistent message” from government. Illegal subletting can be prosecuted under criminal law if the tenancy is with a local authority and is a secure tenancy - this can also be a flexible tenancy in England. Read more on 24dash.

Tories Ban Scheme Which Offers Residents A Council House For Life

The Tories are quietly banning a scheme which offers poor residents a council house for life. Lifelong secure tenancies - which meant tenants could keep council homes until they died and hand them on to their children - will be phased out in the Housing and Planning Bill. Instead councils will only be allowed to offer secure tenancies of two to five years and 'review' the tenant's circumstances before deciding whether to kick them out. When children or other relatives apart from a spouse inherit a tenant's home, the tenancy will be capped at five years - after which it could be handed on to someone else. Labour's shadow housing minister John Healey blasted the move. Read more on the Daily Mirror website.

Extend Right to Buy To Tenants of Private Landlords

The ‘Right To Buy’ policy that lets council tenants buy their homes at a big discount should be extended to the tenants of private landlords, a Labour leadership contender has said. Jeremy Corbyn said Labour needed to go further in tackling the housing crisis and that extending Right To Buy could help more people find a secure place to live. “We know that Generation Rent faces an uphill struggle simply to get into long-term housing. We have seen some good ideas from Labour to establish more secure tenancies for renters. Now we need to go further and think of new ways to get more people into secure housing,” he said. “So why not go with Right to Buy, with the same discounts as offered by way of subsidised mortgage rates, but for private tenants and funded by withdrawing the £14 billion tax allowances currently given to Buy to Let landlords? Read more on the Labour List website.

Tenants Fear Eviction by Christmas after Rent Promise Rescinded

The New Era estate in Hoxton, which had until now provided affordable rents to local people, was bought this year by Westbrook Partners, a US-based private property investment group. Westbrook passed management of the homes to the Benyon Estate, co-owned by the Conservative MP Richard Benyon, which bought a small stake. Following a wave of negative reports about their plans for the estate, the Benyon Estate announced it was pulling out as residents had “made it clear that they do not welcome our involvement”. As residents celebrated an apparent victory four Hackney councillors hand-delivered letters warning of Westbrook’s new plans.  The councillors said they had previously urged Benyon and Westbrook not to increase rents on the estate to market values, which in some cases would lead to a rise from about £600 a month to nearer £2,400. The letter said they had secured an agreement not to increase rents again until 2016. However, it added: “We understand the council have now been informed that Westbrook no longer plan to honour that plan, and have been told that their plan is to refurbish the current estate in its entirety and then rent all the properties without secure tenancies at market rent levels, with no affordable housing.” Read more on the Guardian website.

Tenancy Rent Controls Won’t Make Housing More Affordable

Home seekers would face higher rents and restricted choice if tenancy rent controls were introduced in the UK. New research argues that policymakers should instead look to radically shake up planning laws in order to facilitate more private rented accommodation and improve individual wellbeing through increased affordability. The Flaws in Rent Ceilings looks at the Labour Party’s proposal to bring down the cost of renting and improve tenant security through the introduction of tenancy rent controls. The paper finds that instead of achieving its desired aims, such constraints on the market would result in higher initial rents, a misallocation of housing and a reduction in the supply of homes to rent – without improving affordability.  The study also calls into question claims that individuals suffer from a lack of security of tenure in the private rented sector. Secure tenancies are provided by the market for those willing to pay for them.  Download a copy of the report from the Institute of Economic Affairs website.

Cabinet Agrees To Proceed With Tenant Vote in Durham

Durham County Council’s Cabinet has given its approval to carry out a ballot of secure and introductory tenants on the future management and ownership of their home.Following extensive consultation, Cabinet took the decision to ask almost 22,000 secure and introductory tenants to vote on whether they would like the council to remain as their landlord or transfer ownership of their home to their current housing services provider. In the coming weeks tenants will be asked whether they agree with the council’s proposal to transfer the ownership of their home via the County Durham Housing Group Limited to Dale & Valley Homes (an ALMO) in the west of the county; Durham City Homes in the city centre and surrounding areas; and East Durham Homes (an ALMO) in the east, making each of these organisations local landlords. Read more on the Housingnet website.

Council Giving Locals First Refusal on Rental Properties

Wandsworth Council is taking steps to give local people first refusal on homes built for private rent.  The latest census found that the London borough is home to one of the highest proportions of young, upwardly mobile singles and couples in England and Wales - a group that the council claims needs more support.  The council says that it wants to help fuel the development of housing built for private rent, arrange with developers to offer newly-built homes to local residents and help people secure tenancies that provide a greater degree of stability and security, with rents that are not subject to unexpected rises. Read more on 24dash.