Blog by NHC supporter member, Ward Hadaway.

The Renters (Reform) Bill (currently at its second reading in Parliament) will be one of the biggest reforms of the English rental market we have seen in recent years.

The Bill itself is split into 5 distinct parts – parts 1 (assured tenancies) and 4 (supported and temporary accommodation) are most relevant to social housing providers.

Key provisions

1. Abolition of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions

The government’s view is that “no-fault” evictions make it challenging for tenants to put down roots, reducing investment into local areas and impacting upon on homeless figures. In response to that, S.21 and the ability to end an assured shorthold tenancy on giving 2 months’ notice will be abolished.

It means landlords will need to rely upon other grounds for possession (including new grounds) as to which see below.

2. Assured tenancies

Pursuant to the Bill,  all tenancies will be fully assured, periodic tenancies. Rental periods cannot be greater than 1 month.

It also means that social housing providers will no longer be able to grant “starter” tenancies as a trial before allowing tenants to convert to fully assured tenancies.

Tenants will still be able to end their assured tenancy by giving notice to quit at any time – but that notice period will be extended to at least 2 months, expiring at the end of a rental period.

Existing shorthold tenancies will convert to periodic tenancies by a specified long stop date.

But – a tenancy granted for a term of more than 7 years cannot be an assured tenancy. Currently, there is no upper limit. It means that, for example, shared ownership leases will no longer be a hybrid between a long lease and an assured tenancy – and therefore the current grounds for possession under Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988 will cease to have effect and shared ownership leases can only be terminated by forfeiture, bringing them into line with leasehold tenure generally.

3. Strengthening of grounds for possession:

The government says “responsible” landlords will still be able to recover possession of their properties where tenants are at fault, through the Bill’s strengthened eviction powers and possession grounds.

New, or amended, possession grounds relevant to social housing providers include:

• Where certain landlords, including providers of social housing, hold a leasehold interest in its property and that lease will come to an end within 12 months of the date of a S.8 Notice Seeking Possession (new mandatory ground 2ZA)
• The notice period for ground 7A will be reduced so that landlords can issue proceedings immediately upon service of the notice;
• The notice period for ground 8 will increase to 4 weeks;
• Where a tenant has been in at least 2 months’ rent arrears at least 3 times in the last 3 years (new mandatory ground 8A);
• Ground 14 is amended to include conduct “capable of causing” nuisance or annoyance rather than “likely to cause” bringing it in line with the definition of ASB in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014;
• The tenancy is used for supported accommodation and the tenant has unreasonably refused to co-operate with the support provider (new discretionary ground 18)

4. Rent Review

The Bill will abolish contractual rent review clauses – instead, rent reviews for assured tenancies will be effected by:

• Notice under S.13 of the Housing Act 1988;
• FTT determination of an open marked rent under S.14; or
• Written agreement between the landlord and tenant following a FTT determination.

The period of notice for a rent increase will increase to 2 months and no increase shall take effect within the first 52 weeks of the tenancy.

Many housing providers will have standard provisions in their tenancy agreements that relate to a contractual right to review the rent, and that reviews will take place on fixed dates (e.g. 1 April) each year. These provisions of the Bill will void those clauses.

5. Redress system, supported and temporary accommodation

The Bill provides for the creation of a landlord redress system, a new Ombudsman and a landlord database. The aim is to provide tenants in the PRS with greater protection and the ability to have their landlords’ actions independently assessed.

Social housing providers are expressly excluded from the redress provisions.

However – within a year of clause 63 of the Bill coming into force, the government must set out its policy in relation to supported and temporary (homelessness) accommodation, including the standards of safety and quality  that should apply to that accommodation and how that should be enforced.

What does this mean?

For now we must wait and see how the Bill progresses through Parliament and await any potential amendments – it would be a surprise if there were no changes to the Bill, but the underlying objectives are likely to remain.

If the Bill is enacted, all new tenancies will be governed by its rules from its commencement. Existing tenancies will be governed by the new rules after the expiry of a long stop date – except where fixed term ASTs expire before that long stop date, in which case the new rules will apply from the expiry of that fixed term.

Until the Bill is enacted, there is currently no need to housing providers to do anything differently as to the creation and management of their tenancies. But at a strategic level, providers should be giving thought as to the operational effect of having no tenancies with fixed terms and limitations upon rent review – and what this may mean for property turnover and financial planning.

The Northern Housing Consortium represents the views of housing organisations in the North of England, with our membership of local and combined authorities, ALMOs and housing associations representing over 9 out of every 10 social homes in the North.  Our vision is our collaborative Northern voice helps members create and regenerate sustainable homes and build resilient, thriving communities.

The overall management and strategic direction of the Northern Housing Consortium is entrusted to the Board of Directors who are subject to election each year from Full Member organisations.  Membership of the Board is balanced between the three Northern regions and consideration is made of sectoral representation across different organisation types as well as the need for balance across the range of equality categories – age, disability, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation. We would strongly encourage applications from all backgrounds to support our inclusion and diversity objectives.

Under the Consortium’s governance arrangements, all nominations for the position of Director will be reviewed by the Board (or their nominated representatives), against a Skills Set for Directors to ensure that they meet the Board’s requirement to fill any vacancies – the Skills Set and Board Director Role Profile are enclosed in the Board Director Nomination Pack.

In accordance with a procedure agreed by the Board, we are seeking nominations for up to four new Directors’ places to be filled for the three-year period 2023-2026.  The Directors who are also retiring this year but who wish to stand for re-election are as follows:

1. Paul Fiddaman, Group Chief Executive, Karbon Homes

NB The Board have confirmed their support for the re-election of the above candidate.

Should the number of successful nominations exceed the vacancies available, a ballot will be arranged and the results announced for formal approval by the Full Members at the Consortium’s Annual General Meeting on 23^rd November 2023.

A nomination form is included in the Nomination Pack, and I invite you to consider and make nominations of candidates no later than 16^th August 2023.  Please note that you can nominate more than one candidate but in doing so, you should note the conditions for nominating candidates included in the Nomination Pack.

An application form can be obtained from kay.wiseman@northern-consortium.org.uk This must be completed by the nominee and returned with the nomination form no later than 16^th August 2023.

If you would like to discuss your nomination for the position of Director, please contact:-

Tracy Harrison

Chief Executive

T: 07809659492

E: tracy.harrison@northern-consortium.org.uk

From 26 June, housing providers in the Greater Manchester area will be able to apply to a new £15m Social Housing Quality Fund, aiming to improve housing quality and minimise health hazards in people’s homes.

Successful applicants will receive grant-funding to carry out repairs and renovations in properties affected by issues including damp and mould, with providers expected to match-fund at least 25% of the awarded money. The fund hopes to support works on up to 1,500 properties within the Greater Manchester area and is open to registered providers of housing, including housing associations, local authorities, and arms-length management organizations (ALMOs).

Awarding of the funds will take a risk-based approach with funding decisions considering property type, whether the property is home to vulnerable residents, and the presence of Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) hazards. The fund will support the installation of measures to homes in the priority order set out below:

Band 1	Dealing with Category 1 damp and mould housing health and safety rating (HHSRS) hazards.
Band 2	Dealing with Category 2 damp and mould HHSRS hazards facing vulnerable households.
Band 3	Dealing with other Category 2 damp and mould HHSRS hazards.
Band 4	Dealing with properties where tenants have reported damp and mould issues and surveys have identified remedial action required.
Band 5	Supporting ‘infill’ works to properties of archetypes with vulnerable tenants where issues are known to occur and where evidence demonstrates elevated risks of hazards occurring.
Band 6	Supporting ‘infill’ works to properties of archetypes where issues are known to occur and where evidence demonstrates elevated risks of hazards occurring.

Any application must demonstrate that the work is in addition to already planned maintenance, or that the works would be accelerated with additional grant funding, or both. All funds received by successful applicants must be spent by 31 March 2024.

Applications for the Social Housing Quality Fund will be accepted until 11:45am on Friday 14 July.

An introductory event is scheduled at 11:00-13:00 on Wednesday 28 June for Registered Housing Providers and Local Authorities interested in submitting bids, to provide an overview of the fund’s objectives, the application process and associated assessment criteria. Any interested party can register for the event by emailing SHQF@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk.

Further information about the Fund, and details on how to apply from 26 June, can be found on the dedicated Social Housing Quality Fund webpage on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority website. Alternatively, prospective applicants can contact SHQF@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk directly with any enquiries.

 

Registrations are now open for July’s Summer Learning Programme from Homes England’s Local Government Capacity Centre.  The 14 free webinars, which are designed to support local government with development of housing and regeneration in line with Homes England’s new Strategic Plan, run between 10 to 20 July 2023.

Topics range from placemaking at a community level, measuring social value in economic appraisal and creating a distinct narrative for a place, to biodiversity net gain, green infrastructure for high quality places, compulsory purchase order (CPO) tips, planning for later living and health in design. Sessions book up quickly so do register now to avoid disappointment.

The whole programme can be accessed via Homes England’s website;  but the following webinars involve NHC members and might be of particular interest:

Learning from Greenhaus: A Passivhaus case study With Salford City Council, Salix Homes	13 July	11am to 12:30pm	Book here
Introducing the Fair Foundations approach to place-based interventions With Karbon Homes	19 July	11am to 12:30pm	Book here
Fair Foundations: Better placemaking to support the everyday economy   With Coastal Housing Group, Unity Homes	20th July	2pm to 3:30pm	Book here