Landlords have a legal requirement to ensure that a property is safe before letting it to a new tenant and local authorities have a statutory duty to keep the housing conditions in their area under review. It is now almost thirteen years since the introduction of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Introduced […]
On 20 March 2019, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 (The Act) comes into force in England and Wales amending sections 8 to 10 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. The Act creates an obligation on landlords to make sure dwellings provided are fit for human habitation from the start of their […]
In 2016, Plus Dane, in partnership with SHAP, was awarded the Refugee Resettlement Contract for Halton Borough Council; Halton are a great Council to work with and there was a coalition of the willing. The contract fitted well with the social and moral purpose of our organisation. And so began a new strand of […]
Karl Dickman, Product Manager at Home Group, explains why he set up the Housing Association Digital Forum and how already it’s been a great success. I started the Housing Association Digital Forum in September 2018 with the first participants invited from the North East, and Yorkshire and Humber. I set it up, primarily, because I […]
Liam Gregson, Member Engagement Officer, Northern Housing Consortium With austerity swelling social housing’s role as an ‘ambulance service’ for vulnerable groups, it is unsurprising that the mental health problems faced by residents has come increasingly into focus. Research by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has suggested that one in three people living in […]
The Social Housing Commission (the Commission) is an independent cross-party body which was set up by housing charity Shelter. On 08 January 2019 the Commission returned a year’s worth of findings in the form of a report entitled ‘Building for our future: A vision for social housing’ which aims to bolster tenants’ rights in the […]
The Social Housing Green Paper published last year included a specific question around how residents can be supported by their landlords to ensure their homes are safe. A Call for Evidence – available here – has been issued to understand what safety issues are most important, the extent to which current engagement works and what […]
Over the summer Homes England launched the Community Housing Fund (CHF) (£163m). Both phase 1 revenue support and phase 2 capital funds are now open for bids. At Homes England we are supporting community led housing activity and we know through enquiries and actual bids that communities are developing projects throughout the region. An element […]
As part of the Budget on 29 October, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published a consultation, Planning Reform: Supporting the high street and increasing the delivery of new homes, which sets out proposed planning reforms to support high streets and make best use of land and buildings to deliver more homes. […]
A number of consultations with the sector are currently open ranging across issues such as leasehold, planning reform, consumer redress and local government finance. If you are responding to any of the consultations, it would be helpful if you could provide us with a copy of your consultation response to help with our deliberations. If […]