The Week in Housing: government outlines new rights for 11 million renters

Good afternoon.

The government introduced its version of renters reform this week, moving on from the previous Conservative government’s Renters (Reform) Bill, which was shelved in the ‘wash-up’ period ahead of the general election.

Labour’s?Renters’ Rights Bill will ban Section 21 no-fault evictions for new and existing tenancies, introduce a number of standards for the private rented sector, and crack down on tenants outbidding on rental properties.

Most of the proposals were outlined in the King’s Speech in July , but there some new additions such as the abolishment of blanket bans on tenants with children or those in receipt of benefits, “to ensure fair access to housing for all”.

Organisations from across the sector have said the bill is “welcome” and “painfully overdue” . However, they have warned that it must be passed as soon as possible to give renters protection and avoid a flood of evictions.

Inside Housing was up in Liverpool this week for the inaugural Housing Community Summit, a joint event hosted by the Chartered Institute of Housing and National Housing Federation (NHF).

During the two day conference, Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram?launched a public-private alliance that aims to accelerate the development of ultra low-carbon housing across the region.

In another session, Mr Rotheram suggested setting up a new Housing Revenue Account , due to the combined authority’s ability to borrow money at a cheaper rate, to help councils build homes.

The boss of the NHF admitted that estate regeneration projects in London failed to replace social homes because they were?not funded enough by the government .?Kate Henderson explained that developers were expected to rely on the cross-subsidy model to fund their regeneration schemes, which led to a net loss of social housing.

This is an admission that might have one’s eye on the government’s Autumn Statement as the sector waits patiently for what a new Affordable Homes Programme might look like.

With the health of the sector the subject of many sessions, a senior figure at the English regulator said housing associations in London that are under more financial pressure than elsewhere in the country are looking to merge with providers outside the capital .

Jonathan Walters, deputy chief executive at the Regulator of Social Housing, said: “In very simple terms, organisations that have significant exposures to the London housing market I think are the organisations that are dealing with the most immediate financial pressures.”

A flurry of such mergers could have some really negative unintended consequences for London’s social housing stock.?Will non London-based providers really prioritise building in the capital? Or use those assets to borrow against building more social homes in their original regions?

Sticking with funding, Peckham MP Miatta Fahnbulleh told delegates that the?government will look to prioritise social housing as part of its ￡6.6bn retrofit agenda.

Ms Fahnbulleh said: “We are determined to move at pace, you know, we’ve got to work straight away to ensure that some of our current schemes, including the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), and the Home Upgrade grant for energy saving upgrades.”

In a deep dive into the SHDF, published this week, Inside Housing asked landlords about their experience of this net zero policy on the eve of the next, and largest, wave of the fund. The sector shared its thoughts about?how you can make net zero can happen in practice .

Talks around a government-backed scheme to help fund retrofit in a bid to find a way to finance costly improvement work have swirled around the sector for some time.?This week, The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) and Lloyds Banking Group revealed that they are working to?launch a financial debt guarantee for housing providers to access funding for retrofit projects.

David Cleary, managing director and head of housing for commercial banking at Lloyds, said: “We’re very close to announcing the retrofit scheme, which will be partly backed by the UK Infrastructure Bank.”

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