Housing Law Week

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On 25 March 2024 Clive Betts, Chair of the Commons Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee wrote to Baroness Scott of Bybrook, Social Housing and Faith Minister at the DLUHC, to press the Government for answers on their proposed reforms to how social housing is allocated in England. The Chair’s letter asks a series of questions in relation to the Government’s proposed changes to who is eligible and who qualifies for social housing. #HousingLaw #SocialHousing

The i newspaper reported that new build homeowners are being told they must sign non-disclosure agreements if they want to see details of their rising estate charges. Residents say that when permitted to view relevant documents they are denied the opportunity to photograph or take images of them. The article notes that freeholders have neither a legal right to challenge unreasonable service charges at a tribunal nor the power to take over the management of the estate. #HousingLaw #NewBuild #Homeowners

BBC News have reported on the concerns of campaign groups that the Government was seeking to water down the Renters (Reform) Bill in order to appease landlords. The proposals include making tenants commit to a minimum six-month period when renting a property and delaying a ban on no-fault evictions for existing tenancies until the publication of an assessment by the Justice Secretary on the readiness of the court system to deal with repossession claims. The Bill is due to have its report stage and third reading on a date to be announced. #HousingLaw #Renters #Landlords

The Resolution Foundation has published research finding that ‘average rents could rise by 13 per cent over the next three years, as today’s high market rates work their way through existing tenancies’. The report – Through the roof: Recent trends in rental price growth – examines what lies behind the recent rents surge, seeks to set the record straight on some commonly-suggested causes, and shows what this could mean for the coming years. #HousingLaw #Renting #Tenancies

On 5 March 2024 the DLUHC published information on the age of children under 10 in temporary accommodation in England and relates to 30 June 2023. The total number of children under 10 in temporary accommodation on that day was 86,945; the total number of individuals of all ages was 262,430. #HousingLaw #TemporaryAccomodation #Children

On 9 March 2024 the Observer reported on research showing that some homeless children are now spending their entire childhoods in supposedly “temporary accommodation”, while thousands of families have been housed in such accommodation for more than a decade. The article quotes Matthew Bolton, executive director of Citizens UK, which is campaigning for a maximum stay in all temporary accommodation to be written into law, who said that thousands of childhoods were being “stolen through poor quality temporary accommodation that isn’t temporary at all”. #HousingLaw #TemporaryAccomodation #Childhood

On 14 February 2024 the Office for National Statistics published a price index tracking the prices paid for renting property from private landlords in the UK for January 2024. The index states: - Private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK rose by 6.2per cent in the 12 months to January 2024, unchanged for the second consecutive month. - Annual private rental prices increased by 6.1per cent in England, 7.0per cent in Wales and 6.8per cent in Scotland in the 12 months to January 2024. - Within England, London had the highest annual percentage change in private rental prices in the 12 months to January 2024, at 6.9per cent, while the North East saw the lowest, at 4.7per cent. #HousingLaw #PrivateLandlord #Rental

On 15 February 2024 the Regulator of Social Housing published its value for money metrics and reporting for 2023. The report shows that in 2023 housing associations: - Invested £12.5 billion in new and existing homes (16 per cent more than the previous year); - Delivered over 48,000 new social homes (up by 7 per cent); - Spent an average of over £4,500 on each social home (up by 14 per cent) as they continued to invest in repairs and maintenance and deliver their strategic priorities. #HousingLaw #SocialHousing

On 19 February 2024 the Guardian reported that the Local Government Association has called for an urgent review of funding for Ukrainian refugees amid concern that 9,000 have reported as homeless and many more are needing longer-term support. On 18 February the government announced that it would extend by another 18 months the three-year visas of Ukrainians who escaped the war. Figures published by the DLUHC on 15 February 2024 show that 9,070 Ukrainian households have been owed a homelessness prevention or relief duty; in 6,060 of these cases the duty has been ended successfully. #HousingLaw #Ukraine #Homelessness #Migrants