Industry news


Views sought on crackdown of unfair managing agents


letting agents affecting millions of leaseholders, private sector tenants and their landlords. With over 4.2 million leasehold homes in


T


the country and service charges of between £2.5bn and £3.5bn a year, the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid says the Government wants to fix problems in the property management industry, drive down costs and protect consumers from the small minority of rogue agents who rip them off and provide a shoddy service. As part of this call for evidence, the Government is seeking views on: • whether regulatory overhaul of the sector is needed;


• measures to protect consumers from unfair costs and overpriced service charges; and


• ways to place more power in the hands of consumers by giving leaseholders more say over their agent. It wants to know if a new independent


regulatory body is needed, if separate bodies should be established for leasehold and private rented management, and letting agents and whether they must be qualified and regulated in order to operate.


he Government has launched a consultation on proposals to bring in regulation of property managers and


The sector is already partly self regulated -


through professional bodies such as the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA), ARLA Propertymark and the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS), who all have a code of conduct – while other property agents operate outside of any system. For instance ARLA have demanded that estate agents should be included in any new system. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said:


“This is supposed to be the age of the empowered consumer – yet in property management, we’re still living in the past. We are showing our determination to give power back to consumers so they have the service they expect and deserve, as part of my drive to deliver transparency and fairness for the growing number of renters and leaseholders. “Our proposed changes to regulate the


industry will give landlords, renters and leaseholders the confidence they need to know that their agents must comply with the rules,” he added. For Labour John Healey said the measures


did not go nearly far enough. "In the face of the country's housing crisis, this is a truly feeble announcement," he said. "It isn't even a commitment to act, it's a commitment to ask some questions."


The long overdue guidance to councils on how they should implement the Homelessness Reduction Act has finally been published by the Government, along with news of some extra grants for homelessness prevention. The guidance is subject to an eight-week


consultation period, with councils encouraged to suggest improvements where they can. The act is due to come into force in April 2018. It requires councils to provide services to anyone at risk of becoming homeless. The Government has also announced some


additional funding - £11.7m is added to the amount available for local authorities facing new burdens, bringing the total up to £72.7m over two years, while £3m will help councils to upgrade their data systems to take into account the new requirements. Homeless cases have increased sharply in recent


years with the Chartered Institute of Housing branding the figures a “national disgrace”. Some 14,400 households were accepted as homeless between April and June, a slight decrease since last year but a 53 per cent rise since 2009. There were 78,180 households living in


temporary accommodation, a seven per cent increase on last year. This included 335 households who were victims of the Grenfell Tower fire and had to move into hotel rooms. Of the households in temporary accommodation, 78 per cent included children and/or a pregnant woman.


New tenancy agreements for Scotland


A new tenancy agreement for the Private Rented Sector comes in to force in Scotland from the beginning of December. Changes have been made to make tenancy agreements more flexible, easier to understand for landlords and their tenants, as well as increased clarity and security for both sides. The changes to the private sector tenancy


will apply to all new tenancies beginning on or after 1 December 2017. The new tenancy rules coming in to force include: • Tight restrictions for landlords on ending a lease – they will no longer be permitted to serve notice on a tenant without a specific cause;


• Rent increases only permitted a maximum of once a year;


• A ban on setting a duration for the lease or an end date;


• A set of mandatory and optional clauses; • Changes to pre-tenancy information and documentation which landlords must provide to tenants; and


• New appeal and arbitration procedures.


The Scottish Association of Landlords has been working with the Holyrood government to organise various events to publicise the changes, to ensure a smooth transition to the new tenancy agreements.


COMPLEX Sir Steve Bullock, executive member for housing at London Councils and mayor of Lewisham, wrote to the Government back in September saying councils were still waiting on “much delayed information”. The guidance includes advice to councils on how


to form a new homelessness strategy as required under the act. It advises local authorities to collaborate across boundaries and produce sub- regional homelessness strategies, where appropriate. It also covers issues relating to homeless survivors of domestic abuse, how to determine which homeless people are in ‘priority need’ and how to deal with people leaving care facilities. Marcus Jones, the minister with responsibility for


homelessness, said: “Tackling homelessness and rough sleeping is a complex issue with no single solution, but this government is determined to help the most vulnerable in society. “Local authorities play a vital role in


implementing the act. Therefore the guidance and government funding will support them in making sure people will get the help they need earlier to prevent them becoming homeless in the first place.”


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM November 2017 | 21


Guidance on homelessness prevention finally issued


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