Industry News Of those who made a complaint, most were


unhappy with the response to their complaint (59 per cent). The majority (84 per cent) of those who were unhappy with the response to their complaint did not escalate it, for example to the Housing Ombudsman Service. Although most social renters said they found it


easy to pay their rent, almost a quarter (23 per cent) of household had been in rent arrears at some point in the last 12 months. Almost three quarters (73 per cent) of social


renters said they found it easy to pay their rent. Despite this, 23 per cent of households had been in arrears at some point in the previous year. This was higher than the proportion of private renters (8 per cent). Almost half (47 per cent) of social renters in the


bottom two income quintiles spend more than 30 per cent of their income on their rent. The household type most likely to spend more


than 30 per cent of their income on their rent were single person households, 61 per cent of whom were in this situation in 2019/20. Compared with the private rented sector, there


are relatively few movers in the social rented sector and social renters have lived in their current home longer. The average length of residence in their current


home for social renters was 12.2 years. This was lower than owners (17.4 years) but higher than private renters (4.3 years). Overall, 62 per cent of the social renters have


lived in the sector for over 10 years, with 37 per cent having lived in the social rented sector for over 20 years. Of all those who moved into a social rented


property within the last year, just over half were already in the social rented sector (52 per cent). Over a quarter (27 per cent) had previously lived in the private rented sector, 18 per cent were new


In 2019, 12 per cent of social homes failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard. This compared with the 23 per cent of private rented sector stock and 16 per cent of owner occupied housing stock


households and 3 per cent were previously living in an owner occupied home. Homes in the social rented sector are more


energy efficient and are less likely to have poor housing conditions than other tenures. The costs to make homes decent and more energy efficient are lower in the social rented sector than the private rented and owner occupied sectors. In 2019, 12 per cent of social homes failed


to meet the Decent Homes Standard. This compared with the 23 per cent of private rented sector stock and 16 per cent of owner occupied housing stock. Similarly, 5 per cent of social rented dwellings


had at least one Category 1 hazard, a lower proportion compared with owner occupied (10 per cent) and private rented (13 per cent) dwellings. On average it would cost £5,077 to make a non-


decent home in the social rented sector meet the Decent Homes Standard. This is less than in the private rented (£7,912) or owner occupied (£7,832) sector. The majority of dwellings in the social


rented sector were in EPC Bands A to C (61 per cent), compared with 38 per cent of private rented sector dwellings and 36 per cent of owner occupied dwellings. The average cost to improve a social rented home


to at least EPC Band C was £5,979, lower than for private rented homes (£7,646), and owner occupied homes (£8,579).


Low income social renters were more likely to


live in a home that had a Category 1 hazard or that did not meet the Decent Homes Standard than higher income social renters. Social renters in the lowest income quintile (13


per cent) were more likely to live in a non-decent home, than those in the fourth income quintile (8 per cent). Similarly, those in the lowest and second


quintiles (both 6 per cent) were more likely to live with a Category 1 hazard than households in the fourth income quintile (2 per cent). Social renters are less likely to have private


outside space, but more likely to have shared outside space than all other tenures. 62 per cent of homes in the social rented sector


had a private plot (for the sole use of the dwelling) and a further 37 per cent had a plot shared with other dwellings. The remaining 1 per cent did not have a plot at all. Social rented homes were less likely to have a


private plot than owner occupied (93 per cent) and private rented homes (67 per cent). Meanwhile, social rented homes were more likely to have shared plots than private rented (28 per cent) and owner occupied (6 per cent) homes. The variation in prevalence of plot type across


tenure was likely driven by dwelling type; 42 per cent of social sector homes were purpose-built flats (low and high rise) compared with 28 per cent in the private rented sector.


Building Safety Bill: mixed response from NHF


The long-awaited Building Safety Bill setting out the legislation for the new building safety regulatory regime to ensure the safety of people and their homes, has left lots of questions unanswered. The National Housing Federation welcomed the


Bill, but has called for more clarity and help for social landlords and shared owners facing huge bills to remediate residential buildings. They fear that billions of pounds could be diverted away from building new homes, to be spent on safety work. The Bill introduces significant changes to


building safety regulation, as recommended by Dame Judith Hackitt in her Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, and introduces the new Building Safety Regulator to


oversee the new safety regime. Responding to the publication of the Bill, Victoria Moffett, Head of Building and Fire Safety Programmes at the National Housing Federation said: “We welcome the publication of the Bill as an important milestone. It is the next step in overhauling the building safety regulatory system to make sure a tragedy like the fire at Grenfell Tower never happens again. “It’s positive to see the Government acknowledge


that private developers are ultimately responsible for the poor workmanship which has led to so many safety issues. And, that these developers should therefore cover the costs of the work, rather than homeowners or those in social housing. “But many questions remain about what will


happen in practice. Giving leaseholders longer to pursue private developers for compensation could help some people, but unfortunately not everyone who is struggling to pay enormous building safety bills. There was also no announcement about other financial support for leaseholders today. “The Government has rightfully made it a legal


14 | HMM August/September 2021 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


requirement for building owners to pursue all other options before passing any building safety costs on to leaseholders. Not-for-profit HAs have already been doing this but we are concerned to hear of cases where they have not been successful and associations will have no other choice but to still pass on costs to homeowners or shared owners in their buildings. “There was also no funding for HAs remediating


social housing announced today. Charitable associations have so far been unable to access existing Government funds. They are already diverting billions of pounds away from the upkeep of their social homes and away from building new social housing in order to make safe homes they bought in good faith. “If the Government want to avoid bills


being passed on to homeowners and fewer affordable homes getting built over the next decade, they will need to cover all building safety costs upfront and claim the costs back later from the companies they acknowledge are responsible – such as private developers.”


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