Let us see what been happening in the housing news this week.

Local Housing Allowance increase

In the Chancellors Autumn Statement this week Jeremy Hunt announced that he has unfrozen the Local Housing Allowance and increased to the lower 30th percentile of local market rents from April 2024.

This has followed long campaigns from all sides of the rental market both charities, private Landlords and local authorities saying that they were well behind the market rent and was a major factor in driving up homelessness.

Jeremy Hunt said

Because rent can constitute half the living costs of private renters on the lowest incomes, I have listened to colleagues and many organisations, who say unfreezing the LHA was an urgent priority.

I will therefore increase the LHA to the 30th percentile of local market rates – this will give 1.6 million households £800 of extra support next year.

Good news from the government and badly needed.  Although inevitably, Shelter has said that they want the increase to happen now, not next April.

Wales expands its ‘Leasing Scheme Wales’

A council in Wales is encouraging private landlords that are currently in a existing leasing scheme with a registered social landlord company that is ending, to lease their rental properties direct to them via their ‘Leasing Scheme Wales’ initiative. This is operated by the Welsh Government and works well already in 16 local authorities.

It will mean that the council concerned, Brigend Council, will be able to still offer private landlords guaranteed rent at local housing allowance rates for leases of anything up to 20 years, grants of up to £25,000, property management services and tenant support.

The council are aiming for a total of 88 properties to be available for rent under this scheme by 2026-27.

U-turn on EPC ratings welcomed by landlords

A new survey out claims that 74% of landlords have welcomed the u-turn the government has made on all rental properties being a minimum of a C rating. The survey also announced that some landlords have no intention of carrying out further energy efficiency upgrades to their properties as there is now no legal obligation to do so, and only 26% of landlords said that there was still a moral obligation to do so.

Some landlords however, with lower-rated properties still do intend to upgrade to a C rating, but feel there is less urgency, with the main barrier being cost and the difficulty of retro-fitting older properties.

Interestingly, only 26% of landlords were not in favour of getting rid of the EPC minimum requirements altogether, claiming that there are benefits of having higher-rated properties such as lower energy bills, being able to charge a higher rent and increasing the value of their property.

You can read more here.

Sadiq Khan gives social rented sector hope for new homes

Sadiq Khan has launched a new initiative called Council Homes Acquisition Programme (CHAP), which will give councils access to funds to buy homes from the private market. He claims that 170,000 Londoners are living in unsecured temporary accommodation, 83,000 of which are children.

His scheme will allow all London boroughs to bid for funding with the aim to bring 10,000 more homes into the social sector within the next ten years. All homes must comply with the Decent Homes Standard and building safety regulations.

He says

My new Council Homes Acquisition Programme will allow boroughs to move at pace to increase the number of council homes in our city, offering a lifeline for thousands of Londoners who are facing high housing costs, as the first part of my ambitious goal for councils to buy 10,000 homes over the next decade.

Some good news for a change.

Snippets

East of England town votes through new HMO restrictions
Renters want bills included but few landlords offer it, study finds
Landlords lead on energy-efficiency despite Sunak U-turn
Tenant’s complaint lead to £10,000 fine for HMO landlord
Derelict site on London’s Billionaire’s Row ‘has space for 300 homes’
Activist leader claims ‘one man band’ landlords worst at exploiting tenants

Newsround will be back next week.

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