COMMENT 21


landlords. The Government has been promising action on poor or dangerous living conditions for several years and has featured this prominently within the White Paper, but this has been a Cinderella service for a long time. The reason why more action is not being


taken against private landlords guilty of carrying out retaliatory evictions on tenants who complained about unsafe or unaccept- able conditions, is usually because councils do not have enough people on the ground to do this work – it can be complex, time- consuming and challenging. Good EHOs need to be resilient and confident in their knowledge and skills. It is extremely welcome that politicians


want to prioritise work in the areas of planning and enforcement, but they also need to help with the urgent recruitment, training and on-going support for staff to carry out these important functions. Another area coming under huge


pressures are the rent and income collec- tion teams in housing associations, councils and ALMOs. The Government has held out the prospect of allowing rents to rise after 2020, presumably to fund the building of new homes, but until then the annual one per cent rent cuts remain in place. Also remaining in place are the welfare


benefit reforms that are cutting the income of needy tenants and pushing up rent arrears. The introduction of Universal Credit (UC), which merges six different benefits into a single payment, was hailed as a major advance, as it has simplified the benefit system and it simulates the world of work for claimants, by giving them a single payment each month. Out of this, they are responsible for paying all of their bills and living expenses. However, this ignores the simple fact


that all landlords (whether in the private or social rented sector) require rent to be paid in advance, but the Department of Work and Pensions insist on paying benefits in arrears. Add to this the fact that the first UC payment is normally paid up to six weeks after it has been claimed, when most tenants will already be in debt just in order to feed and clothe themselves and other family members.


ARREARS Universal Credit continues to be rolled out across the country and as it does, so it appears more tenants are racking up rent arrears, while those already in arrears are seeing their debts grow and grow. MPs on the DWP select committee were


recently given an insight to the problem when Nick Atkin, chief executive of the Halton Housing Trust appeared before them. Halton HT is a medium sized social landlord with nearly 7,000 homes in the


Cheshire towns of Widnes and Runcorn, near the River Mersey. He revealed that of the 12,091 tenancies


covered by the four main housing associa- tions operating in Halton, 1,058 of them are in receipt of UC and of these, some 920 now have rent arrears. UC claimants total nine per cent of all


Halton tenancies but they account for 37 per cent (£586,000) of the rent arrears. The average rent arrear per person is now £602; an increase of £160 (36 per cent) since the tenants first moved on to UC. There are four times as many UC


claimants in receipt of a Notice of Seeking Possession as non-UC claimants. As a result, these people are now at an increased risk of losing their home as well as the additional legal costs from recovery action. Not surprisingly Mr Atkin says all of this is preventing him from getting a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, in its current form, it


appears that Universal Credit is not fit for purpose and yet the Government is contin- uing with its roll out across the country in order to meet an arbitrary timetable, rather than slowing it down and ensuring the systems and processes are working properly and able to cope. The National Federation of Arm’s-


Length Management Organisations and the Association of Retained Council Housing recently estimated the number of tenants on UC who were in rent arrears, had shot up to 86 per cent. This compares with 39 per cent of


tenants in arrears who do not receive UC. The average arrears total has also increased, from £321 to £616. Research has also revealed that 59 per cent of UC claimants living in council homes have arrears that equate to more than one month’s rent. Addressing the same select committee,


Lord Freud who was one of the main architects of the scheme, defended UC and said he estimated the number of tenants in arrears was much lower at one in four, or 25 per cent. All of these figures represent a real


challenge to both the tenants and their landlords. How can they possibly cope with debts running up at these totals? It might also explain why a growing number of private landlords are unwilling to accept tenants who are dependant on benefits for their income. The Chartered Institute of Housing


welcomed many of the measures included in the White Paper, but were critical of the Government’s failure to address problems associated with its programme of welfare reforms and cuts in public spending. The Housing Benefit bill nationally has ballooned out of control to something like £28bn a year, but at least 10 per cent of that


is being paid to rogue landlords in the private rented sector, providing unsuitable and dangerous properties for vulnerable and needy people to live in. Now if only we had sufficient numbers of


environmental health officers to tackle these rogue landlords, but that’s another story entirely!


BUT IT’S JUST A FOOTPATH!


Carol Ramsden, from solicitor Birketts LLP, discusses the impact of public rights of way on development


F


ootpaths, bridleways and byways traditionally traverse golden fields and green lanes, providing shortcuts


and leisure walks for local residents and countryside visitors. These recreational routes are public rights of way, a type of public highway recorded on mapping by highway authorities, and as well protected in law as the road network. A developer should be aware that


planning permission does not make any change to a public right of way within a development site. Houses subsequently built over routes, even when in accordance with approved layout plans, become illegal obstructions of the highway. Such houses are likely to prove difficult, or even impos- sible to sell. Recent changes to property search questions bring the existence of public rights of way to the attention of prospective purchasers. In assessing the potential of a


development site, public rights of way are an WWW.HBDONLINE.CO.UK


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