Government mandates smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in rented homes

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The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) recently outlined new guidance for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in rented homes which is due to come into force on 1st October 2022.

Housing Minister Eddie Hughes MP has written to sector representatives with an update on new smoke and carbon monoxide alarm requirements (full letter below).

The new regulations have now been laid before parliament and if agreed, will take effect on 1 October 2022. The main effect of the new regulations is to amend the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Regulations 2015 (2015/1693). This will remove the exemption of social landlords, so that from October housing associations and local authority landlords will be subject to the 2015 regulations.

The regulations require that:

  • Registered providers of social housing must ensure at least one smoke alarm is provided on each storey of their homes where there is a room used as living accommodation. This has been a legal requirement in the private rented sector since 2015.
  • All landlords must ensure a carbon monoxide alarm is provided in any room used as living accommodation which contains a fixed combustion appliance (excluding gas cookers).
  • All landlords will be legally obligated to ensure smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms are repaired or replaced once they are informed and the alarms are found to be faulty.

In cases where repair or replacement of an alarm is necessary, the obligation on landlords is to act ‘as soon as reasonably practical’ after being advised of the problem.

All landlords have time between when the amendment regulations became law on 27 June 2022 and when they come into force on 1 October 2022 when they must comply with the new requirements.   Further information and updates can be found on the DLUHC website.

As an NHC member, you can access smoke and carbon monoxide alarms through Consortium Procurement’s comprehensive TECS framework, which has typically saved members up to 13.4% compared to direct to supplier purchases.

Don’t hesitate to contact their Business Development team if you’re thinking about using a solution to facilitate compliance. They will be happy to discuss options with you. Email: solutions@consortiumprocurement.org.uk today.

Construction networks 

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We are revamping our offer to members in this area to ensure it remains relevant and of value. 

We currently host the following:

  • Building Safety Network 
  • Annual Health & Building Safety Conference 
  • Disrepair Network 
  • Repairs and Maintenance Network 
  • Annual Asset Management Conference 

Our plan is to replace the Repairs and Maintenance network with a new Asset Management Network, which will incorporate some of the issues in day-to-day Repairs and Maintenance, void repairs issues, stock condition and capital repairs and improvements (including decarbonisation, Decent Homes, Net Zero etc.). The Asset Management Network will also inform the agenda and topics for the annual Asset Management Conference. 

We will retain the existing Building Safety Network and the annual Health and Building Safety event alongside the Disrepair Network as separate entities. 

The first meeting of the Asset Management network is planned for 19 September. Please register your attendance here.

(You will need to register for MyNHC if you haven’t previously. You can register at www.mynhc.org.uk) 

If you have any queries about the network, please contact our Head of Business Improvement, Nigel Johnston (nigel.johnston@northern-consortium.org.uk) 

If you are interested in joining any of our other networks please email events@northern-consortium.org.uk

 

Reducing the flow temperature on your boiler can save up to 8% on your energy bill and cut carbon emissions from your home

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In the corporate plan we are committed to three cross-cutting themes – sustainability, wellbeing and equality, diversity and inclusion – which run through everything we do.

The aims of the sustainability group are to minimise our own environmental impact across the organisation and embed sustainability as a core principle. Act on sustainability in its widest sense, both internally in the way we work as an organisation and externally by supporting members to meet the net-zero challenge and create thriving, low carbon communities.

With energy costs soaring, a quick and simple way to reduce the amount of gas your condensing combi boiler uses, and therefore the amount you pay this winter, is to make an easy change to the flow temperature on your boiler.  

Often flow temperatures are set unnecessarily high meaning households use more gas than they need to. Making these changes will help your boiler run more efficiently without lowering the temperature of your home. 

Source: https://www.theheatinghub.co.uk/

Find out everything you need to know about how to increase the efficiency of your condensing combi boiler and reduce your energy bill here. 

Keynote chapter – the North’s Private Rented Sector

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New report reveals the need for urgent reform across private rented home sector. 

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are facing calls to accelerate reforms to protect tenants following a new report that reveals residents of private rented homes across the North of England face low standards, rising rents and a chronic lack of stability.

The Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) publishes the Northern Housing Monitor 2022 report to provide an up-to-date picture of housing standards across the north. It shows that for the 1.2 million (or 17.4%) northern private renter households almost a third (30%) of properties were of a ‘non-decent’ standard, with improvement over the last ten years solely due to an above England average 47% improvement in the North West housing stock.

Housing quality in both the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber has worsened over the decade, with volumes of non-decent accommodation increasing by 3.6% and 1.3%, respectively, up to 2020.

A total of 4.4 million households makes up England’s private rented sector, including 1.3 million households with children and 382,000 households over 65. The policy paper ‘A Fairer Private Rented Sector’ published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in June concluded that “this is driving unacceptable outcomes and holding back some of the most deprived parts of the country.”

DLUHC has identified that over half (54%) of households spend more than 30% of their income on housing, including renter groups categorised as ‘families getting by’ and ‘low-income savers’.

Nationally, nine of the top ten neighbourhoods (and 43 of the top 100) with the highest concentrations of private renting in England in 2011 were in northern cities, indicating that northern renting tends to be more concentrated than in other parts of England.

The NHC report identifies that renters in Yorkshire and the Humber live in the lowest quality housing of any region in England, with Yorkshire relying more on the private rented sector than any region outside London.

Yorkshire’s private rented sector has the lowest standards in England, with rates of non-decency (37.6%) well above the English average of 22.8% and those in other Northern regions – the North East (28.2%) and the North West (23.9%).

The NHC is calling on the incoming Prime Minister to ensure that the Government delivers the Renters Reform Agenda and its Levelling Up Mission on housing quality. The Levelling Up White Paper published in February set out a ‘mission’ to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030, a target confirmed in June’s Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper.

The NHC represents 140 councils and housing associations across the North; its chief executive, Tracy Harrison, said:

“The Yorkshire and Humber region has the lowest standards of private rented accommodation of any region. It’s clear that for significant parts of the North the standards are already poor and getting worse.

“It is imperative that the new Prime Minister accelerates the Renters Reform Agenda and doesn’t let the standard of private rented housing in the North slide. Otherwise, the Government will fall way short of hitting its target of halving the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030. The need to level-up housing quality is vital, particularly across the North, where homes are older, suffer from a lack of investment, and the sector is crying out for support and proper regulation.

“While most people have a positive experience living in the private rented sector, the fact is that many residents are often vulnerable, with specific health and social care needs. The quality of the housing in the lower end of the sector is simply not up to standard and can exacerbate physical and mental health conditions to limit life chances further.

“The Government must deliver on the promises that have been made to Northern renters, and momentum must be maintained. Councils, landlords and renters all want to see a plan to boost quality in the North’s private rented sector.”

The private rented housing sector grew 36% between 2010 and 2020 and now houses 17% of Northerners. Given the expansion in the North of England, it is evident that the new stock that has come into the market has often been non-decent.

In addition to calling on the Government to push on with its plans to boost housing quality as part of the levelling-up agenda, with 54% of those in the private rented sector at high risk of fuel poverty, the NHC has outlined the need to increase the pace of energy efficiency upgrades to homes urgently.

The ongoing cost of living crisis will increase bills for those living in poorly insulated, energy inefficient rented properties. The latest predictions estimate the energy price cap will increase by 77% on October 1 to £3,500, and in January next year, it will rise even further.

The private rented sector keynote chapter is a taster of 2022’s comprehensive state-of-the region Northern Housing Monitor: the analysis you need, in one place. The full 2022 Monitor will be published in the Autumn – in the meantime, you can find 2021’s Monitor here.  The NHC is grateful to Gentoo and Yorkshire Housing for their support for 2022’s Northern Housing Monitor.  The Monitor is commissioned from Arc4 by the NHC.