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Editor’s comment


A chilly winter awaits for tenants and landlords alike


Patrick Mooney, News Editor


Probably the least surprising outcome of the Conservative leadership contest was that within the new Prime Minister’s fi rst cabinet we saw another change in the Housing Secretary. T e speed of change is incredible and on this occasion Simon Clarke became the fourth politician to hold this post within 12 months. Whatever the views and policies of the new Housing Secretary, he faces a daunting set of challenges. Housing barely featured in the leadership contest, except in terms of whether the candidates supported the use of centrally set house building targets and whether they were prepared to sanction building on the Green Belt or not, but there is some optimism that Mr Clarke will actively support work to improve the insulation of the nation’s housing stock and reduce our reliance on expensive, carbon based fuels for our energy needs.


It is unlikely he will be able to implement Green changes in time for this coming Winter, but there are high expectations that Mr Clarke will be a strong advocate for retrofi tting within the cabinet – assuming there is still money available to fund such largescale investment. Dealing with the cost of living and energy price crisis has been the dominant feature of the national agenda. While some of the pain may have been averted for many households with the announcement of an energy price cap, there are still an awful lot of people who will be going cold over the coming months. In fact the End Fuel Poverty Coalition pressure group estimates that if the energy price cap is frozen at around £2,500, 6.9 million UK households will still be in fuel poverty this winter - up from 4.6 million last winter. T at’s equivalent to roughly a quarter of the population.


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T e introduction of price caps is becoming a more popular tactic, even though it is not something we associate with Liz Truss’s economic beliefs that were revealed during the hustings. T e Government had previously declared it was working to limit the size of the hit on social housing tenants by imposing a cap of 5 per cent on next year’s rent increases, rather than the freeze which some tenant representatives in the sector were asking for – but it is not considering taking similar action for either private sector tenants, or shared owners. It has been pointed out by many others that tenants on low incomes need and deserve fi nancial assistance irrespective of who their landlord is. Private tenants are already paying higher rents than those who live in social housing, while shared owners have to pay rent on the portion of the property they do not own. T e rent on the unsold equity will in all probability go up by a double-digit percentage increase unless their landlords forgo some of the rent increase they can charge.


T e rent cap will require social landlords to trim their budgets by considerable sums which will be a diffi cult task for all concerned. T e estimated hit on landlords’ budgets is projected to be £1.3 billion next year and a whopping £7.3 billion over the next fi ve years. And this comes at a time when logically both private sector and social landlords should be increasing spending on improving the insulation of their tenants’ homes, to make them more energy effi cient. Such investment would reduce the consumption of energy to heat our homes and limit the increase in future energy costs. However, it is also likely that given the other cost of living pressures, rent arrears will inevitably rise, aff ecting the income streams and budgets of landlords by a lot more. T e costs of repairs and maintenance services are rising faster than infl ation, so it is inevitable that services provided to tenants will be cutback in the next few years.


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Printed in England Design out crime


Matthew McTighe from CAME UK discusses the importance of Secured By Design (SBD) and their role in securing developments around the UK. See report inside


See page 37 HMM1011_2022 Covers.indd 1 18/10/2022 11:40 4 | HMM October/November 2022 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


Maybe one of the reasons why a rent cap is not being announced for the private sector is because there are already considerable changes planned for this sector and being consulted upon. Back in June the Government published its Renters Reform White Paper. Proposed changes include abolishing Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, introducing a new ombudsman (to resolve disputes away from court), limiting rent rises to once per year, and banning landlords from refusing to rent properties to people on benefi ts. Now the Government is also consulting on the introduction of a decent homes standard to the private rented sector for the fi rst time, bringing a degree of consistency with the social housing sector. T e NRLA are welcoming the introduction of a legally defi ned property standard, but they rightly point out that how property standards are checked and implemented is key - if local authorities do not have adequate resources to regulate the private rented sector in their locality, then this could be a meaningless step which only off ers false protection to tenants. T is is an interesting challenge for the new Housing Secretary and one we hope he will deliver on, along with the many others in his bulging in-tray.


HOUSING MANAGEMENT


& MAINTENANCE OCT/NOV 2022


Rent cap for social housing tenants


Decent homes standard for private sector


£2bn programme to combat rough sleeping


Housing


Ombudsman re-appointed


Council misses thousands of safety checks


On the cover... Patrick Mooney


Matthew McTighe from CAME UK discusses the importance of Secured By Design (SBD) and their role in securing developments around the UK


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