Editor’s comment
Publisher: Lesley Mayo
Managing Editor: James Parker
james@netmagmedia.eu
News Editor: Patrick Mooney
patrick@netmagmedia.eu
Assistant Editor: Teodora Lyubomirova
Editorial Assistants: Jack Wooler Roseanne Field Sue Benson
Production Assistants: Mikey Pooley Shelley Collyer Rob Duncan Kim Musson
Senior Sales Executive: Nathan Hunt
Display Sales: Courtney Smith
Sales Executives: Suzanne Easter Kim Friend
Circulation: Jane Spice
Managing Director: Simon Reed
Cointronic House, Station Road, Heathfield, East Sussex TN21 8DF
Advertising & administration Tel: 01435 863500 Fax: 01435 863897
info@netmagmedia.eu www.housingmmonline.co.uk
Editorial features Tel: 01435 863500 Fax: 01435 863897
james@netmagmedia.eu
Press Releases
editorial@netmagmedia.eu
The manufacturer of the paper used within our publication is a Chain-of-Custody certified supplier operating within environmental systems certified to both ISO 14001 and EMAS in order to ensure sustainable production.
Subscription costs just £18 for 6 issues, including post and packing. Phone 01435 863500 for details. Individual copies of the publication are available at £3.25 each including p&p.
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or stored in any information retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher. Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of material published in Housing Management & Maintenance, the publisher can accept no responsibility for the claims or opinions made by contributors, manufacturers or advertisers. Editorial contributors to this journal may have made a payment towards the reproduction costs of material used to illustrate their products.
Printed in England
This product registered with ABC in October 2015 but has not yet issued its first certificate.
Features this month Bathroom Refurbishment Fire & Smoke Protection Floors & Flooring Heating & Renewable Energy Water & Air Quality
Show preview Homes 2016
News Four in 10 homes below standard Ministers target rogue landlords HA l ifi ti l t t
Latest news, events and products
www.housingmmonline.co.uk Spotlight shines on landlords
Housing has been in the media spotlight recently with horror stories about the plight of people unable to get a secure and decent home in which to raise their families. Many commentators and TV presenters have drawn links to the 50th anniversary of the airing of ‘Cathy Come Home’ which changed the country’s attitude and approach to tackling terrible conditions in the private rented sector and a rising tide of homelessness. Not surprisingly the question often asked is “How far have we really come since then?” Homelessness has been
Patrick Mooney, News Editor
increasing for quite some time and the numbers being housed in unsuitable temporary accommodation is at record highs. Shelter has just launched a new Living Home Standard to measure the acceptability of housing across all tenures,
just days before the Government issued a new bedroom size standard for adults living in the private rented sector and an extension of licensing to cover thousands more rented properties. A crackdown on rogue landlords is developing at the same time as figures emerge showing that the rental market is booming at the expense of the sales market.
Fraud It is clear there are bad individuals on both sides of the landlord and tenant relationship and good honest people need protecting from them. Latest figures show an increasing number of people are being scammed by fraudsters taking advantage of a highly competitive rental market. Reports of rental fraud in the UK jumped by around a third in 2015 compared with the previous year, with 2,940 incidents, according to Action Fraud – the national fraud and internet crime reporting centre. In the first nine months of this year 1,891 people reported they had been a victim of rental fraud. These are worrying figures. Building significantly more homes for rent would reduce the opportunities for fraud, abuse and criminal activity.
Evidence suggests we need almost two million more homes for rent and a think tank has demonstrated the Government could save billions by investing in 100,000 new social homes a year, making the contra argument which focuses on housing for sale looking increasingly flawed. The trend for mergers in the housing association world is about to take a significant step forward with several huge deals edging toward completion. The primary driver for these appears to be increasing their building capacity, so they can deliver lots of new homes.
Fitness But social landlords also need to ensure they focus on building sustainable homes – with sufficient room for 21st century households – and that they also look to improve their existing housing stock. Billions of pounds were invested in bringing social homes up to the Decent Homes Standard, but that investment needs to be protected and built upon by continuing to spend money on replacing out-dated components and improving the energy efficiency of our homes. The new Living Home Standard will not deliver itself, and the regulator is clearly worried that repairs and maintenance budgets are going to be squeezed by the centrally imposed annual rent cuts. The chancellor’s Autumn Statement is eagerly awaited to see what help and encouragement he has for landlords – hopefully he sees them as part of the solution, rather than an expensive problem.
Patrick Mooney
HOUSING&
MANAGEMENT MAINTENANCE November 2016
On the cover... The cover of this issue of HMM features The Joinery, London © Family Mosaic
The Joinery is a development in Islington by housing association Family Mosaic which is providing 52 flats in a converted Victorian warehouse plus four new blocks constructed along a newly created street. The development is offering affordable rent in a particularly expensive area of London and also represents a sustainability achievement being BREEAM ‘Excellent.’ See the case study on this project on page 25 of this issue.
4 | HMM November 2016 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60