Landlords Support Mps Calls To Boost Housing Benefit

Private landlords are supporting calls by MPs on Parliament’s Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee to boost the financial support available to tenants during the COVID-19 outbreak. Responding to the Committee’s calls for the Local Housing Allowance to be set at a rate that reflects real market rents, Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “Our research shows that the vast majority of landlords approached for help by tenants struggling as a result of coronavirus are responding positively. We have long called for benefits to cover rents which would be by far best option for tenants and landlords alike.”  Read more on the RLA website.

https://news.rla.org.uk/landlords-support-mps-calls-to-boost-housing-benefit/

Social And Affordable Lettings Drop By 40,000

Housing associations and councils let 334,602 homes for below market rent in 2016/17, down from 374,586 a year earlier. That is the lowest level recorded in the stats which go back to 2007/08. General-needs social rent lettings fell by 14,103 for housing association homes and 8,948 for local authority homes in 2016/17. Supported housing social rent lettings dropped 12,948 among housing association stock and 1,389 for council stock. Download the figures from the HCLG website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/social-housing-lettings-in-england-april-2016-to-march-2017  

Gap Between LHA And Cheapest Rents Making Housing Unaffordable For Under-35s

The gap between Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates and rents has widened to the point where private rented housing is “out of reach” for under-35s. This is the finding from the latest research into LHA rates by the CIH, which focused on areas with the biggest gap between the set rate and actual market rents. LHA rates should allow applicants to claim enough benefit to pay the rent on a home in the cheapest 30% of the private rented sector. But the CIH’s research found that in 46 areas, less than a quarter of private rented properties are affordable to young benefit claimants. Read more on Inside Housing.

Ministers Consider Pay To Stay Exemption

The CLG will consider exempting council tenants from Pay to Stay in areas where social rents and market rents are similar. Civil servants from CLG have drawn up draft regulations for ministers which include an exemption in areas where the difference between market rent and social rent is very small. Under the latest regulations, councils would compare the market and social rents in the area, deduct an administrative cost per tenant which is likely to be set by the government, and if the difference between the rents is small then a council could receive an exemption. Read more on Inside Housing.

Pay To Stay Should Be Slowed Down

Many questions remain about how the policy will work in practice. Will social tenants face a sudden, steep rise in rent when they reach the top of the income thresholds? Will Pay to Stay bring people into eligibility for housing benefit, who wouldn’t have been before? Will local councils have to charge tenants full market rent if tenants have not been able to prove their incomes? Perhaps the most pressing of them all is how councils can be ready in time for an April 2017 start. We expect draft regulations to come into force in the autumn. This means that from around Christmas, councils will have to start sending people letters to inform them that their rents will rise the following April. The number of households affected, at first, will be small. But to implement the policy, councils will need to verify the income details of many thousands more of their tenants – or charge them the full market rent. Read more on the Shelter blog.

Timetable For Introduction Of Pay To Stay

CLG officials have set out the timetable for the introduction of the 'pay to stay' scheme for council tenants with household incomes of over £31,000 (£40,000 in London).  The aim is to introduce the scheme from April 2017. Thresholds will be up-rated annually by inflation (CPI) and tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit will be exempted from the policy. However, all other tenants will be required to declare their total household income to their local council to enable the council to calculate how much additional rent they will be expected to pay.  The additional rent is expected to be 15% of any income over the threshold or the full market rent for the property whichever is lower. Read more on the ARCH website.

Low LHA Rates Lock Out Claimants

Housing benefit rates paid to claimants renting privately have fallen well below actual market rents - leaving claimants with no access to housing. Since 2011, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates have been supposed to reflect the lowest 30% of market rents, but due to a series of caps it has not risen as fast as rents in many areas. This means claimants in some areas - particularly those under 35 who can only claim the rate for a shared room - cannot afford to rent at all and may face street homelessness. The news will raise concerns among housing associations, with social sector tenants’ benefit limited to LHA rates from April 2018. In some areas - particularly those of low demand - the shared room rate will be well below existing social rents, meaning tenants on benefits will struggle to pay. Read more on the CIH website.

Rents Continue To Grind Upwards

It’s now a year since the Office for National Statistics overhauled their experimental rent index and it’s fair to say they feel pretty well bedded in. But while the fact of the index is cause for celebration, what it shows is anything but. In the last five years rents across England have outstripped general inflation and earnings growth – and in the capital they’re almost 20% higher than they were at the start of 2011. The ONS’s rent index doesn’t turn up eye-grabbing double digit rent rises or falls. It tends to move slowly up and down. This is mostly because it doesn’t track changes in market rents (i.e. what I would have to pay if I were to go and look for a new rent home today) but to track changes in average paid rents. Read more on the Shelter blog.

The End Of Council Housing

John Harris takes a look at the Housing Bill and how it is likely to affect the residents of Quaker Court, a 50 year-old estate, close to the City of London. The estate has mixed tenure – 50% social housing, right to buy properties, buy to let properties etc. Residents are most likely to be affected by the Pay to Stay which could push rents up from $160, including all bills, to a market rent of £600, not counting bills.  Read more on the Guardian website.

Pensioners To Pay MORE To Stay In Social Housing!?

The Conservative’s Housing & Planning Bill includes the policy of pay (MORE) to stay which sees social tenants with a “household income” – a term as yet undefined – of more than £30,000 per year in the regions and £40,000 or more in London to pay market rents or near market rents to stay in social housing. Nowhere in this policy or in the Bill’s drafting does it say the pensioner household is exempt.  In Ealing and using the housing regulators own official figures the pensioner in a 3 bed social rented property will see the rent increase from £136 per week to around £480 per week as a result of this policy. Read more on the Speye blog.

Osborne’s Housing Gamble

George Osborne is taking some big gambles on housing policy which may or may not pay off. One major gamble he’s considering at the moment is what to do with the Affordable Homes Programme. In 2010 this budget was cut, as part of the broader deficit reduction programme. To reduce the impact of the cut, Osborne changed what could count as “affordable”, allowing rents as high as 80% of the local private market to continue to fund some new development. Renters had to pay more, but so did taxpayers through the housing benefit bill, and crucially some homes for rent still got built.  Osborne is now considering going even further in his reforms. In his 2015 conference speech he said: “this autumn we’ll direct our housing budget towards new homes for sale.” This indicates another big change in affordable housing policy. Read more on the Shelter blog.

MP Accuses Housing Association Of Turfing Out Tenants

Poplar and Limehouse MP Jim Fitzpatrick has pledged his support for tenants threatened with eviction by East Thames Housing Association. East Thames residents told Mr Fitzpatrick at a surgery meeting they received letters stating they must either buy their homes or vacate them. Residents living in an intermediate market rented property received the news that the housing association had taken the “difficult decision” in light of “the current economic climate.” A spokeswoman for East Thames told Mr Fitzpatrick : “As you are aware, we have had to review our housing offer in line with government changes, particularly the year on year rent cut, which will result in a £14m reduction to our annual income.” Read more on The Wharf.

Call For Build To Rent To Be Expanded And Include More Affordable Homes

Build to Rent development in London is over double that in the rest of the UK, with a new manifesto calling for more affordable homes to be included in such schemes. There are over 14,276 units in planning, completed or under construction in London compared to 7,112 in the rest of the country, according to the new data from the British Property Federation.  They also show that there are at least 3,404 completed units in London, compared to 240 in the rest of the UK. The organisation has published a new manifesto for the Build to Rent sector, in which it urges government to change national planning policy to stress that the appropriate affordable housing on new Build to Rent developments should be discounted market rent. Read more on the Property Wire website.

Pay to Stay Will Make Homes ‘Unaffordable’

Tens of thousands of social tenants across southern England affected by Pay to Stay would struggle to afford to carry on living in their home if forced to pay full market rent, according to exclusive research. Consultancy Savills has calculated the potential impact of the policy, under which tenants earning over £40,000 in London and £30,000 outside the capital will have to pay rents at up to market rent level. The consultancy estimates 60.1% of the 27,108 affected households in London will neither be able to afford market rent or be able to buy their house under the Right to Buy. In the East, South East and South West regions of England the figure is 49.1%, 43.4% and 26.6% respectively. Read more on Inside Housing.

Social Landlord Regrets Stating 'No DSS' On Adverts

A large London housing association has admitted using “clumsy” language after stating “no DSS” in an advertisement for a flat. The Hyde Group attracted criticism on social media after an advert for a two-bedroom, second-floor apartment said “no DSS”. The east London property, which was advertised by Hyde New Homes, was built as key worker housing in 2009 and is let at 80% market rent. The advert was described as “vile and discriminatory” on Twitter. David Gannicott, director of business development at Hyde, said: “To be perfectly honest, it should have been better thought through. The wording is a bit clumsy. What we should have said was [applicants] have to be working households.” Read more on Inside Housing.

Pay To Stay 'Likely To Be Tapered'

Social tenants earning just above the new ‘pay to stay’ threshold are unlikely to be hit by a dramatic increase in their rents, with the government expecting to bring in a ‘tapered’ system. Government sources have told Inside Housing that the policy, which comes into effect in April 2017, is ‘likely’ to contain a taper. This means social tenants earning just above the £30,000 threshold (£40,000 in London) may not immediately have to pay market or near market rent. Instead, rent will be gradually increased as household income rises further above the threshold. Read more on Inside Housing.

Financial Relief for Social Landlords

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis has proposed new rules that would enable a wider range of affordable housing providers to claim relief from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). Currently, only a limited number of housing associations and local authorities can qualify for this housing relief. Subject to parliamentary approval, the proposed new rules would enable a wider range of social landlords to potentially benefit from the CIL. To qualify, new homes would need to be let at no more than 80% of market rent to people whose needs are not met by the commercial housing market. Read more on 24dash.

Affordable Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Emma Reynolds:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average (a)rent and (b) proportion of market rent is of the homes built or converted as part of the affordable rent model.

Brandon Lewis:[Holding answer 9 December 2014]: The average (median) rent of new Affordable Rent lets was £109 per week in England and £165 per week in London in 2013-14. These figures represent 80% of market rent across England and 55% of market rent in London. 

High Street Lettings Agency Debut for Council

An east London local authority has made its high street debut with its very own lettings agency.  Havering Council opened the doors this month of Liberty Housing in one of the borough’s busiest shopping areas, Hornchurch Town Centre. The new lettings agency will see council staff work with private landlords hoping to let out their properties to handpicked tenants. Landlords will then hand over management to the council in return for guaranteed market rents, even if a property remains empty. The council hopes that by encouraging more landlords to sign up to the scheme they can create more opportunities for local people struggling to access high quality private rented accommodation.  Read more on the Havering Council 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.