Councils Could Block New Rent

Housing associations fear their ambitions to rent homes at the government’s new affordable rent level will be frustrated by councils opposed to the tenure. The government hopes to deliver 150,000 affordable homes by 2015 by allowing landlords to charge rents of up to 80 per cent of market value for new lettings and some re-lets. Associations are concerned that councils could use nomination agreements to prevent them from introducing the new rent regime in some areas. These binding agreements often specify that a proportion of homes in developments should be let at a certain rent. This could prevent associations switching vacant properties to a new tenure. Leicester Council this week confirmed it would consider using nomination agreements to restrict the affordable rent product. ‘People are telling us they can’t afford housing association rent levels as it is, so we would absolutely look at doing whatever we can to protect everybody,’ said Paul Westley, cabinet member for housing at the council. Read more on Inside Housing.