BPF Launches Three-Year Pledge For Build To Rent

The British Property Federation (BPF) has given its three-year pledge on behalf of the Build to Rent sector – with 20 of the sector’s most active investors and developers as signatories. In the Housing White Paper, Gavin Barwell asked the sector to offer family-friendly tenancies, such as for three years, for those who want longer-term stability when renting. The BPF and a cohort of the Build to Rent key players have responded and published a pledge to demonstrate the sector’s commitment to providing three-year tenancies and working with government to ensure the sector can play its part in rolling back 20 years’ of housing undersupply. Read more on the BPF website.

Four In 10 Renters Fear They Will Never Own A Home

David Cameron’s pledge to build a property-owning democracy is called into serious question by a landmark survey revealing that almost four in 10 of those who do not own a home believe they will never be able to do so. According to an exclusive poll for the Observer on attitudes to British housing, 69% of people think the country is “in the throes of a housing crisis”. A staggering 71% of aspiring property owners doubt their ability to buy a home without financial help from family members.  More than two-thirds (67%) would like to buy their own home “one day”, while 37% believe buying will remain out of their reach for good. A further 26% think it will take them up to five years.  Read more on the Observer website.

Just 200 Homes Have Been Built On Public Land Sold Off By The Government

Just 200 homes have been built on public land sold off by the Government over the last five years, new figures have revealed. Despite the land having a capacity for 109,000 homes, the only record of any homebuilding points to a fraction of them being actually constructed, MPs on the Public Accounts Committee heard. The statistics came just weeks after David Cameron pledged to build hundreds of thousands of homes every year, as he battles to make housing a key legacy of his premiership. Shadow Communities Secretary John Healey told HuffPost UK: "As usual on housing, the Prime Minister has promised big but delivered little". Read more on the Huffington Post website.

Fast-Track for Watered Down Right to Buy Through Parliament

The government's much heralded extension of the right to buy to housing association tenants could end up being an amended version of an existing policy. According to sources, the government is looking to achieve its Queen's Speech pledge to "enable the extension of right to buy levels of discount to housing association tenants" by modifying the right to acquire. The right to acquire, introduced under the 1996 Housing Act, gives tenants of housing associations the statutory right to buy their homes at a discount to the open market value, in line with the right to buy. However, there are key differences. Read more on 24dash.

Tory Housing Association Right-To-Buy Policy Attacked By Big Business

The Conservatives have come under fire after David Cameron pledged to give people the chance of a “good life” by extending Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy scheme to 1.3 million families in housing association properties. The Confederation of British Industry and the blue chip Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) property firm joined many housing associations, warning that the Tory plan would not address the chronic shortage of housing.  Adam Challis, head of residential research at JLL said: “The expansion of right to buy may be good politics, but represents terrible policy. This is exactly the kind of short-termist thinking that the country’s 4.7m households in social housing don’t need, not to mention the same number again of aspiring owners in private renting. Read more on the Guardian website.

Freud to Break Bedroom Tax Pledge

Lord Freud has backtracked on his pledge to protect vulnerable and disabled people from the bedroom tax, new government guidance has confirmed.  Currently, supported housing is classified as ‘exempt accommodation’ and not included in the bedroom tax, benefit cap or universal credit. But identical accommodation does not count as exempt if the landlord is a council or not the provider of care.  Previously, the minister has suggested the government had been successful in fulfilling a pledge to protect supported accommodation not meeting the current ‘exempt’ definition from the ‘unintended consequences’ of welfare reform. In a letter to housing groups, the DWP said: ‘We believe virtually all the provision previously at risk will now be protected by these changes.’ But new DWP has dashed housing providers’ hopes that more supported housing will be protected from the bedroom tax. Read more on Inside Housing.

U-Turn Looms over Freud Pledge on Bedroom Tax

Lord Freud may be forced to row back on his pledge to protect vulnerable people from welfare reforms because of political opposition to letting more people avoid paying the bedroom tax. Under current rules, some supported housing - known as exempt accommodation - is protected from the bedroom tax, benefit cap and universal credit. However, accommodation is not exempt if the landlord is not the provider of care or when a landlord is a council. But the DWP has now admitted there may be no way to exempt all supported accommodation from welfare reforms. Read more on Inside Housing.