Industry News


Fire safety concerns sparked by tragic incident


The fatal fire at Grenfell Tower in west London will inevitably lead to a wide ranging review of fire safety and building regulations throughout the nation’s high-rise housing. Speculation has been rife over the cause


of the fire and why it spread so quickly from the lower floors to the top of the 24-storey tower block, that had only recently completed a two-year £10 million refurbishment. Comparisons have been drawn with the


fatal fire at Lakanal House in Southwark, south east London, from eight years earlier and to incidents at other high rise tower blocks in the capital and across the world in the past 12 months. Much attention has focused on the


absence of a sprinkler system, the alarm system and advice to residents, the new insulation and external cladding, the new communal heating system and whether its installation compromised the existing fire retardant system between flats and different floors of the building. Residents have said they were raising


concerns over fire safety before, during and after the refurbishment works were completed. Those fleeing the fire had to use the same single stairwell that firefighters were using to reach residents in the upper floors, as there was no separate fire escape.


Regulations Criticism has also been levelled at the Government over delays in publishing updated and simplified building regulations, relating to fire safety. This was being prepared in the wake of the inquest into the Lakanal House fire in 2009, when the coroner criticised the existing rules and guidance as being too complicated to understand. DCLG officials said the review of regulations was not yet complete. Landlords have been quick in their efforts


to reassure tenants about the safety of their tower blocks, but the loss of life at Grenfell Tower fire will inevitably lead to a comprehensive review of the building materials in use, building design and the safety systems adopted to safeguard residents and to prevent fire spreading. Grenfell Tower was originally built in the


1970s and regulations over the use of sprinkler systems in new buildings do not currently apply to existing blocks of flats. The retrofitting of sprinklers has been a topic of much discussion and no doubt this will continue, but its installation in buildings constructed of concrete and steel has many issues and no easy or cheap solutions. At the time of writing firefighters were


using drones to fly up and down the building to help them extinguish pockets of fire and assist the work of forensics teams, picking through the block in a detailed search.


Local authorities are spending millions of pounds buying back ex-council homes sold cheaply under Right to Buy legislation to combat housing shortages and rising homelessness. An investigation by the BBC looked at


council areas where waiting lists had risen for four consecutive years since 2011 and chose 10 examples at random. Figures collected by the broadcaster


showed that Islington Council in north London spent over £6.2m buying back homes it previously owned, but were sold to sitting tenants for less than £1.3m. Among its findings from the other councils questioned, the BBC found:


• Camden bought back 29 homes for more than £2.5m, 11 of which had been sold originally for about £335,000;


• Cornwall spent nearly £438,000 on four properties;


• Oldham spent £60,000 on two flats it sold for £27,260 but also spent £100,000 refurbishing them for use as council homes;


• Wakefield spent over £2.5m on 35 homes it sold for less than £1m.


Birmingham City Council has agreed a


budget to buy back 200 homes it previously sold under the Right-to-Buy. In addition, figures obtained from the


House of Commons library show that council homes are not being replaced at anything like the same rate as they were being sold at despite assurances from ministers in the last Government that this would be the case. In the most recent four-year period, there


have been roughly seven properties sold for every new council house built or acquired. The actual figures being 41,755 sales and just 6,526 replacement properties. Kate Webb, head of policy and research at


Shelter, said “If Right to Buy is to work, then it has to be accompanied by an iron-clad guarantee to replace properties sold on a like-for-like basis, otherwise councils simply won’t have enough properties for all those families crying out for a home, and will be left paying the price for generations to come.”


6 | HMM July 2017 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


Councils spending millions on buying back RtB homes


Rent deposits to be scrapped by large PRS landlord


In a bold step which could dramatically change how the private rental market operates, landlord Get Living has announced it is ending deposit-taking and plans to return deposits worth around £3m to its existing residents.


Launched in 2013, Get Living runs the country’s largest single-site PRS scheme at the former athletes village, built for the 2012 Olympics in London. It is now home to more than 3,000 people in 1,400 homes, with a further 4,000 homes planned for various sites across the UK.


Get Living’s chief executive Neil Young,


said “We know the cost of living can be high, so as a responsible landlord with a long-term perspective, it is important for us to be able to identify and address areas where we can alleviate the burden on our residents. “Scrapping security deposits as a pre-


requirement and returning deposits to current residents is yet another step we are taking to show we are firmly on the side of renters.”


Hassle free Previously Get Living required a deposit equivalent to six weeks rent, but instead it will now rely on tenants having up-to-date references or guarantors. Deposits will be returned first to those


residents who have lived in the same property for the longest period with the whole process expected to complete by the end of the year. Young said “We have great relationships


with our residents and, given they are taking such good care of our homes, why should we hold six weeks’ rent? “We can do this at Get Living because we


have the scale and track-record to know it will work. Where we have led – with no fees and longer tenancies – others have followed. We hope deposit-free renting becomes the norm.” To reward tenants “who have taken good


care of their homes”, if rental payments are up to date, Get Living will also waive any damage and cleaning costs if it totals less than one week’s rent.


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