Anti-Fraud Team Stop Right To Buy Cheats

Fraudulent claims made by people trying to buy council homes under Right To Buy legislation rose in Oxford from £385k to £2.7m last year, new figures show. The city council's fraud investigation team stopped 35 applications in 2015-16, which could have cost taxpayers as much as £77,900 each. In 2014-15 officers stopped fraudulent applications worth £385,000. The scheme allows people to buy council houses for a discount which was increased in 2014 from 60% to 70%. Read more on the BBC website.

Council Company 'Could Protect Stock From RTB'

A Labour council hopes its new housing company will be allowed to buy the authority’s own vacant ‘high-value’ stock, preventing loss of homes to fund the Right to Buy extension.Oxford City Council announced last week that it was setting up a new housing company to tackle the high demand for housing in the city. In addition to building new homes, the authority also wants the new company to buy high-value council stock which would otherwise be sold on the market in order to pay the Right to Buy levy. However, it is not clear if the government will permit this, and the CLG declined to comment. Read more on the Oxford City Council website.

Council Breaks Homeless Housing Law

Oxford City Council has broken a law against housing homeless families in B&Bs for more than six weeks. The local authority said this was due to an "unexpectedly high number" of homeless families in September and high rents charged by private landlords. It is the first time it has broken the rule - imposed under government legislation - since 2004. The government said the long-term use of B&Bs to house families was "both unacceptable and unlawful". Read more on the BBC website.

Landlord Licensing 'A Complete Failure'

A scheme to crack down on rogue landlords in Oxford has been branded a "complete failure" as half the city's shared houses have not been registered. Oxford City Council began licensing houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) in 2011 to raise the quality of housing. It said the scheme had resulted in £3.5m being invested in housing stock. The National Landlords Association (NLA) said the scheme was not properly enforced and it was driving up rents, forcing people out of the city. Read more on the BBC website.

Councillors Approve £10m Homeless Family Housing Scheme

The one and two-bedroom flats will mean families in need can be homed locally and will not need to be put in temporary B&B accommodation. The rent would be £834 a month, compared with the average of £1,091 in Oxford for a two-bedroom property. Only those who have a strong connection to Oxford will be eligible to be rehomed in the scheme. The council's City Executive Board approved the property fund at a meeting on Thursday evening. It will be up for full council approval in September. Read more on the BBC website.

Oxford to Buy Houses for Homeless Outside City

The city of Oxford will today put forward plans to buy social homes from outside its boundaries for the first time because of spiralling house prices, which are rising faster than in London. The local authority will be the first outside the capital that can no longer afford to provide social housing for its homeless families. The plans came under immediate attack from housing organisations, which said that it was “shocking” that families had to be uprooted and sent miles away from their community. Read more on the Times website.

Plan Scrapped To Fine Homeless Who Fail To Use Accommodation

Plans to fine rough sleepers in Oxford have been scrapped after the city council decided to amend a proposal to tackle anti-social behaviour. Homeless people who fail to use indoor accommodation offered to them were originally on a list of people a Public Spaces Protection Order would target. A petition against this idea had been signed by 72,000 people, stating the order would "criminalise" homelessness. The council said it had concluded there were better ways of tackling the issue. Read more on the BBC website.

Direct Payment Demonstration Projects - Latest Findings

The DWP has published its latest report into the Universal Credit demonstration projects testing the payment of housing benefit direct to social housing tenants.  Among comments made by housing providers taking part in the projects were;

"Our experience shows that some of the triggers for arrears are: delays in payment, lifestyle changes, change of household and the impacts of welfare reform.” (Oxford City Council and Green Square)

"Having trialled the 12-week arrears level, we believe that 12 weeks has proved to be too long a timeline to trigger switchback, as it enables the rent arrears debt to escalate to a level which can become unmanageable, and difficult for the customer to recover from, particularly where other debts exist.”

(Shropshire Council, Bromford Group, Sanctuary and the Wrekin Housing Trust)

“The rent collection process demands considerably more effort for a lower rate of return.  Staffing levels are well above those for “business as usual” (Bron Afon Community Housing, Charter Housing and Torfaen County Borough Council)

Download a copy of the report from the DWP website.

Council's Plan to Licence All HMOs - 5,000 Homes Targeted

A council's plan to licence all houses in multiple occupation (HMO) has begun. Oxford City Council says that from 30 January 2012, every landlord who owns a property in the city where three or more unrelated tenants live and share facilities will be required to get a HMO licence. The first phase of the roll-out - thought to be the first of its kind in the country - started last year. The council says it has now issued nearly 1,000 HMO licences. Landlords who don't come forward and licence their HMOs could be prosecuted and fined up to £20,000, it warns. It estimates that the entire licensing scheme will cover 5,000 properties in total. Read more on the Oxford City Council website.