A report examined disparities between ethnic groups in relation to overcrowded accommodation and the growth of the private rented sector, drawing on data from the 2011 census. It said that: changes in the measurement of overcrowding had affected the visibility of ethnic inequalities; private renting had increased, with the increase most notable for the Indian, Pakistani and Black Caribbean ethnic groups; and some minority groups were disproportionately represented in insecure private rented accommodation.
Source: Nissa Finney and Bethan Harries, Understanding Ethnic Inequalities in Housing: Analysis of the 2011 census, Race Equality Foundation
Date: 2013-Dec
The Scottish government published a Bill designed to: end the right to buy in Scotland; establish a private rented sector tribunal; change mobile home site licensing to improve protections for residents; introduce a regulatory framework for letting agents; enhance local authority powers to improve the quality of houses in the private sector; and make changes to the allocation and management of social housing.
Source: Housing (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Government, TSO
Links: Bill | Explanatory notes | Policy memorandum | Scottish Government press release | CIH press release
Date: 2013-Nov
A briefing paper examined the implementation of the local housing allowance since 2008 and the reform of housing benefit for private tenants.
Source: Wendy Wilson, The Reform of Housing Benefit (Local Housing Allowance) for Tenants in Private Rented Housing, Standard Note SN/SP/4957, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2013-Nov
The Welsh government published a Bill designed to: introduce a compulsory registration and licensing scheme for private rented sector landlords and letting and management agents; reform homelessness law, place a stronger duty of prevention on local authorities, and allow them to house applicants in the private sector housing; place a duty on local authorities to provide sites for Gypsies and Travellers; introduce standards for local authorities on rents, service charges and quality of accommodation; reform the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy system; enable local authorities to charge 50 per cent more than the standard rate of council tax on empty homes; and assist the provision of housing by Co-operative Housing Associations.
Source: Housing (Wales) Bill, Welsh Government, TSO
Links: Bill | Explanatory notes | Welsh Government press release | WLGA press release | CIH press release | Inside Housing report | BBC report
Date: 2013-Nov
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the private rented sector.
Source: Government Response to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee Report: The private rented sector, Cm 8730, Department for Communities and Local Government, TSO
Links: Response
Date: 2013-Oct
A think-tank report examined the prospects for institutional investment in building for rent, looking at where and how build to rent might work, advantages for tenants, investor returns and key challenges.
Source: Vidhya Alakeson, Katie Blacklock, Sandra Halilovic, Tim Rothery, and Nick Salisbury, Building Homes for Generation Rent: Can institutional investment meet the challenge?, Resolution Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Oct
A commission on housing in Scotland was launched. The commission would take evidence from the property profession, the not-for-profit housing sector, investors, developers, stakeholders, and public interest bodies on issues including supply, need, affordability, design, and the role of the private rented sector. The commission would take evidence until 18 November 2013 and would then prepare a recommendations report for the Scottish Government, political parties, and policy-makers and practitioners across the sector.
Source: Press release 14 October 2013, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Links: RICS press release | Commission questions | List of commissioners
Date: 2013-Oct
A briefing paper examined the historical context of private sector rent control.
Source: Sarah Heath, The Historical Context of Rent Control in the Private Rented Sector, Standard Note SN/SP/6747, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2013-Oct
A private member's Bill was published that was designed to establish a mandatory national register of private landlords, to introduce regulation of private sector letting agents and managing agents, to establish a body to administer the national register and to monitor compliance with regulations applying to letting agents and managing agents, and to require all tenancy agreements entered into with private landlords to take the form of written agreements.
Source: Private Landlords and Letting and Managing Agents (Regulation) Bill, Alan Meale MP, TSO
Links: Bill
Date: 2013-Oct
A report examined recent proposals by the government for changes to the private rented sector. The report said that rent control schemes would 'fatally undermine' the recent increase in the size of the sector, resulting in increased shortages of accommodation and rising rent levels. The report also found the introduction of compulsory long-term tenancies to be unnecessary.
Source: Michael Ball, Why Governments Should Not Enforce Long-Term Contracts in the UK's Private Rented Sector, Residential Landlords Association
Links: Report | RLA comment | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Oct
The government announced the introduction of a 'tenants' charter', aimed at encouraging longer fixed-term tenancies and raise standards in the private rented sector. Tenants would be able to request longer tenancies, avoid hidden fees, and demand a 'fair deal' from their landlords and letting agents. A model tenancy agreement, developed with the sector, would clearly set out the rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords, and provide an industry benchmark for written tenancy agreements. The charter would require greater transparency about lettings agents' fees. A new £1 billion Build to Rent Fund and £10 billion of government-backed guarantees would encourage institutional investment in the sector. The government would encourage mortgage lenders to allow buy-to-let borrowers to offer longer initial fixed periods in their tenancy agreements.
Source: Press release 1 October 2013, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: DCLG press release | Guidance note | Guardian report | CIH press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report said that central government 'bureaucracy' was undermining the ability of local councils to tackle poor standards in the private rented sector more effectively. It called for councils to be given the freedom to respond flexibly to the needs of their communities. Recommended measures included: amending the 2004 Housing Act, which prevented councils from licensing accommodation on the basis of poor conditions; giving councils more power to recoup the costs of enforcement; and allowing councils to choose to introduce compulsory accreditation.
Source: Lauren Lucas, Josephine Suherman, and Andrew Walker, House Proud: How councils can raise standards in the private rented sector, Local Government Information Unit/Electrical Safety Council
Links: Report | Red Brick blog post | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Sep
A think-tank report said that even a very modest rented home was beyond the reach of low-income households in 33 per cent of all local authority areas. Demand for private rentals, coupled with low interest rates, meant that rents had become more expensive than the cost of monthly mortgage repayments on a property in almost half (45 per cent) of the country, and exceeded the costs of social rent and shared ownership schemes in all cases. But private renting was increasingly the only option for millions of families who were not wealthy enough to afford a buyer's deposit nor vulnerable enough to qualify for social housing.
Source: Vidhya Alakeson and Giselle Cory, Home Truths: How affordable is housing for Britain s ordinary working families?, Resolution Foundation
Links: Report | Resolution press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Inside Housing report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government should conduct a wide-ranging review of legislation covering the private rented sector, and put in place a much simpler, more straightforward regulatory framework. Local councils should be given greater flexibilities to enforce the law and raise standards including being able to recoup housing benefit from landlords convicted of letting substandard property. There was a clear case for a new approach to regulating letting agents, in the light of strong evidence of sharp practice and abuses. Action was needed to ensure that the market offered longer tenancies to those who needed them. There was an overall need to increase supply across all tenures of housing, allowing renters to select housing on the basis of quality as well as price.
Source: The Private Rented Sector, First Report (Session 2013-14), HC 50, House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Oral and written evidence | Additional written evidence | Hansard | De Montfort University press release | NFA press release | RICS press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jul
Two linked reports examined the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of private landlords, and considered the implications for public policy on pensions, housing, public spending, and social mobility. A moratorium was needed on the purchase of new-build homes with buy-to-let mortgages, in order to improve access to home-ownership among first-time buyers.
Source: Chris Lord, James Lloyd, and Matt Barnes, Understanding Landlords: A study of private landlords in the UK using the Wealth and Assets Survey, Strategic Society Centre | James Lloyd, Whose Home: Understanding landlords and their effect on public policy, Strategic Society Centre
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | Intergenerational Foundation press release | NLA press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Jul
A report set out a series of reforms designed to improve standards of service by letting agencies, and tackle the unpredictable costs associated with using them.
Source: Kate Webb, Letting Agencies: The Price You Pay, Shelter
Links: Report | Summary | Labour Party press release | RICS press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Jun
A think-tank report examined the challenges of build-to-rent for housing providers. Kick-starting the development of rental accommodation for those who were shut out of home-ownership needed to be an urgent priority. As well as increasing supply, build-to-rent could offer people purpose-built accommodation, greater security of tenure, more transparent rental increases, and more consistent management quality.
Source: Vidhya Alakeson, The Challenges of Build to Rent for UK Housing Providers, Resolution Foundation
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jun
The Welsh Government published a White Paper on proposals to improve the arrangements for renting a home in Wales. It said that they were designed to create a simpler, more logical, and clearer legal framework. There would be two types of rental contract: a 'secure contract', and a 'standard contract'. Secure contracts would apply consistently to social housing provided by both local authorities and housing associations, thereby creating the much called-for 'single social tenancy'. The standard contract would be similar to the existing assured shorthold tenancy, with a lower degree of security of tenure.
Source: Renting Homes: A better way for Wales, Welsh Government
Links: White Paper | Summary | Welsh Government press release | CHC press release | CIH press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-May
A report said that the rental market was having a damaging impact on children's lives. Families with children were the most badly affected by the volatility and uncertainty of the rental market. Renting families were 9 times as likely to have moved in the previous year than families who owned their homes. 1 in 10 renting families had had to change their children's school due to moving, with moves causing stress and upset for some children. 44 per cent of parents surveyed felt that their children would have a better childhood if they had more stability in their home.
Source: Francesca Albanese, Growing up Renting: A childhood spent in private rented homes, Shelter
Links: Report | Summary | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-May
The opposition Labour party set out a range of measures designed to reform the private rented housing sector, including: a national register of private landlords; a new national private rented property standard; and greater powers for local authorities in relation to bad landlords, including the potential to strike off criminal landlords.
Source: Private Rented Housing: Improving Standards for All, Labour Party
Links: Report | Labour Party press release | NLA press release
Date: 2013-May
A report examined the early impacts of reforms to the local housing allowance (LHA). It said that the main effects had been quite geographically limited, with the impact far more marked in London than elsewhere. There was no evidence of the anticipated displacement of existing LHA households in the first year after the changes, with transitional measures appearing to have blunted the impacts. There were only limited signs of additional evictions or homelessness specifically caused by the LHA reforms. 94 per cent of the shortfall caused by local housing allowance cuts had fallen on tenants, with only 6 per cent met by landlords reducing rent.
Source: Ian Cole, Christina Beatty, Mike Brewer, James Browne, Richard Crisp, Carl Emmerson, Suzanne Hall, Robert Joyce, Peter Kemp, Isabella Pereira, and Ryan Powell, Monitoring the Impact of Changes to the Local Housing Allowance System of Housing Benefit: Interim Report, Research Report 838, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report (links) | Summary | DWP press release | Sheffield Hallam press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-May
The Scottish Government published a strategy for the private rented sector. The strategy was designed to improve and expand the sector by enabling a more effective regulatory system, targeting tougher enforcement action, and attracting new investment.
Source: A Place to Stay, a Place to Call Home: A strategy for the private rented sector in Scotland, Scottish Government
Links: Strategy | Scottish Government press release
Date: 2013-May
A report (by an official advisory body) recommended reforms to the rented housing market in Wales. Under our proposals, Welsh Ministers would approve model secure contracts for social housing and standard contracts for the private sector. Each would set out clearly the rights and responsibilities of both landlords and tenants.
Source: Renting Homes in Wales, LC337, Law Commission, Cm 8578, TSO
Links: Report | Report (Welsh) | Law Commission press release | Welsh Government press release
Date: 2013-Apr
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act required, for the first time, all lettings and management agents to sign up to a redress scheme. This meant that unsolved grievances with agents could be referred to an ombudsman.
Source: Enterprise and Regulatory Act, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, TSO
Links: Act | Explanatory notes | Labour Party press release | RICS press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Apr
The fair trading watchdog highlighted a range of consumer protection issues in the property lettings market. Both tenants and landlords were concerned about fees and charges levied by agents, poor service provided, and 'surprise' charges introduced after contracts had been signed. The watchdog set out a number of recommendations designed to make the market work better for tenants, including: better compliance with legislation; fees to be set out in a clear tariff of charges; and a general redress mechanism so that landlords and tenants could sort out problems when they occurred.
Source: The Lettings Market, Office of Fair Trading
Links: Report | OFT press release | NLA press release | RICS press release | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Feb
A report examined the characteristics of households living in the private rented sector. Over the previous 10 years the sector had grown by 1.5 million households: by 2009-10 it accommodated around 4 million, or 15 per cent of the population. More households were living in the sector for longer; and increasing numbers of households with children were doing so (1 in 6 families in 2009-10).
Source: Jen Pearce, Who Lives in the Private Rented Sector? Analysis of households characteristics, Building and Social Housing Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | BSHF press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Jan
A report said that more than 8.5 million people in England were renting from a private landlord more than at any stage since the 1970s. Renting was increasingly the new normal the only realistic option for a rapidly growing number of ordinary families who could not afford to buy a home of their own or access social housing. Rents were rising by an average of almost £300 per year: with average wages remaining static, many people were left unable to save for a deposit, and were trapped in a cycle of unstable renting.
Source: Liam Reynolds and Robbie de Santos, The Rent Trap and the Fading Dream of Owning a Home, Shelter
Links: Report | Summary | Shelter press release | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Jan