£500m Scheme Faces Rejection Over Lack Of Affordable Homes

A proposal for a £500 million redevelopment in Bermondsey looks set to be thrown out because of its lack of affordable housing. The project would provide up to 1,342 private rented sector flats, plus 10,000m² of office space, retail and leisure space and a replacement secondary school, all in buildings up to 28 storeys high.  But planners said the applicant had failed to reach an agreement on ‘critical issues’ including the affordable housing and the quality of some of the homes. The affordable housing offer would be in the form of discounted rent, with just over a quarter (27.5 per cent) of the units let at 25 per cent below market rents. Read more on the Architect’s Journal website.

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/kpfs-500m-bermondsey-scheme-faces-rejection-over-lack-of-affordable-homes/10039443.article

Research Finds 6,000 Homes Allowed After Planning Appeals

Planning permissions for more than 6,000 homes have been granted after inspectors upheld appeals where councillors had rejected applications against officers’ advice. Research by planning consultancy Lichfields found challenges to claims that an area had the required five-year supply of land for housebuilding were the most common grounds raised. Lichfields looked at 78 appeals in Great Britain in 2017 where applications for developments of at least 50 homes – and totalling 10,000 homes in all – were rejected contrary to officers’ recommendations. It said 65% of appeals were allowed, equivalent to some 6,000 homes. By contrast, only 40% of appeals were allowed where officers had recommended refusal. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oRsVk1bPK_gJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/research-finds-6000-homes-allowed-after-planning-appeals-57658+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Campaign Launched To Help Housing Benefit Tenants Get A Fairer Deal

A campaign has been launched by a renters' rights group for hopeful tenants claiming housing benefits to stop letting agents and landlords routinely rejecting them.  A protest was held in East London last month by Digs, supporters of Hackney tenants, to kick off their #YesDSS campaign. Between December 2015 and February 2016, the group carried out a mystery shopper survey of 50 estate agents in Hackney to find out how many letting agents would accept tenants claiming housing benefit. It found there was just one studio flat available to tenants in Hackney receiving any kind of state support. According to Digs, agents generally blamed landlords for not being keen on DSS (the now defunct Department of Social Security) tenants. Landlord concerns included benefit claimants not paying the rent on time or housing benefit money taking too long to come through. Read more on the BT website.

MPs Reject Move To Help First Time Buyers

MPs have rejected an attempt to restrict a proportion of newly built homes to first time buyers in the Housing and Planning Bill. The Labour amendment, which would have allowed councils to impose planning obligations requiring a proportion of new housing for sale to be marketed to first time buyers, was rejected by 277 to 72. Another Labour amendment, which would have required the 20% Starter Home discount to remain permanently, instead of people being able to sell the property for the full market value after five years, also fell – by 301 to 194. The Labour amendments were rejected in the House of Commons, as the Housing and Planning Bill was debated at report stage. Read more on Inside Housing.

High Court Rejects Single Parents' Bedroom Tax Challenge

Three single parents, who claimed the bedroom tax breached their human rights by limiting access to their children, have had their case rejected by a High Court judge. The three claimed the imposition of the benefit cut could force them to downsize to homes where their children could not come to stay. But the judicial review was rejected yesterday, after the judge - Justice Stephen Males - said the provision of discretionary housing payments (DHP) had prevented their rights being infringed. Justice Males went on to comment that even if DHP had been refused, Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights would not have been breached. Read more on the Daily Mail.

HCA Fully Funds More Than 70% of Affordable Homes Bidders

More than 70% of the providers that bid for government grant funding under the latest affordable homes programme have been allocated the full amount they requested. The HCA allocated £900m of its £1.7bn pot to 164 providers in July, leaving £800m to be allocated throughout the life of the programme. Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request the HCA has now confirmed that, unlike previous programmes, 118 bidders received the full grant applied for. A further 46 providers that bid for a total of £549m were collectively refused £93m. There were no outright rejections. Read more on Inside Housing.

1,600 Crisis Fund Claims by Disabled People Rejected

Councils rejected more than 1,600 applications for help from disabled people hit by the bedroom tax last year, potentially undermining claims that the policy is not discriminatory. Lawyers acting for disabled tenants challenging the reform are considering using the figures if they are given permission to take their case to the UK’s highest court. Freedom of information requests, showed at least 1,637 applications for discretionary housing payments made by disabled people impacted by the bedroom tax were rejected by just 49 councils last year. The overall figure is likely to be much higher, as 154 other councils responding to requests did not record the data. Read more on Inside Housing.

Landlords Spoil Pay-To-Stay Party

Many social landlords intend to reject the government’s pay-to-stay policy, an exclusive poll by Inside Housing reveals. Of the 41 councils and housing associations that responded to the snap survey, 27 will either not implement pay-to-stay or are unlikely to. Ten landlords have yet to decide. Although three said they may consider it, not one landlord said they plan to bring it in.

Landlords cited concerns about complexity and increased administration costs, as well as the small numbers of tenants affected, as reasons for ruling out the scheme. Read more on Inside Housing.