You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
The Week in Housing: top grades from first consumer inspections and tribunal rules on structural defects in service charges
The Week in Housing is our weekly newsletter, rounding up the most important headlines for housing professionals. Sign up below to get it direct to your inbox every Friday
Good afternoon.
With its new consumer inspection regime underway, the Regulator of Social Housing published its first set of regulatory judgements for two social landlords that handed both a top C1 grade.
An interesting ruling came out of London after an appeal following a decision by a first-tier tribunal.
A judge ruled that a London council was not entitled to recover the cost of remedying structural defects caused by a building’s construction from leaseholders through their service charge.
Tower Hamlets Council lost the appeal after nine out of 32 leaseholders of the Barley Mow Estate in east London brought the case forward.
One legal expert told Inside Housing that if a principle was set where safety works are not considered maintenance, then this would have huge significance for the sector as it continues to shift its focus on its existing stock.
Rising service charges have been a hot topic of late. This tribunal ruling comes around two months after the chair of the G15 group of London’s leading housing associations sent a letter to the previous housing secretary to push back on the idea that there was “widespread misuse of service charges”.
Instead, Fiona Fletcher-Smith, also chief executive of L&Q, highlighted the impact of building safety legislation, rising insurance premiums and uncapped utilities.
READ MORE
On insurance premiums, it was announced this week that a law firm is bringing a no win, no fee claim against freeholders and insurance brokers regarding the lawfulness of charging hidden commissions on building insurance premiums.
A deal that may have come out of the need to focus on core business objectives and bring in revenue to reinvest in stock was completed as L&Q confirmed the sale of its strategic land business for a figure believed to be in the region of £200m.
Another sign of where the sector is focusing its priorities at the moment came as A2Dominion revealed it is planning to cut the size of its development team by about half, with around 35 redundancies expected as it focuses on investing in its current stock.
It is not the first, and almost certainly will not be the last. Southern Housing confirmed in May that it had “made the difficult decision” to make a number of roles in its development team redundant as it prioritises spending on existing homes.
There was some good news on the development front, as the chair of Natural England welcomed the Labour government’s approach to changing nutrient neutrality rules.
Tony Juniper said he supported changes to the “delivery pathway” of nutrient neutrality rules, which developers have claimed are blocking more than 100,000 homes from being built in areas with high levels of river pollution.
In Wales, a test case has been debated in court that could have huge ramifications for social landlords in the devolved nation.
It concerns the application of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act. Landlords were told they could not pick and choose how parts of the act apply after an issue of non-compliance was discovered that could cost the sector tens of millions of pounds.
It is an issue I imagine will be high on the new Welsh minister’s agenda. Jayne Bryant was appointed cabinet secretary for housing, local government and planning amid a major reshuffle, after Julie James resigned over first minister Vaughan Gething’s continued leadership.
There is concern in the sector from across the UK’s regions, as one organisation highlighted how more than 1,800 affordable homes have stalled since the Scottish government slashed funding for housebuilding.
Homes for Scotland revealed 1,826 sub-market-rate residences were on hold because of recent cuts to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. This funding stream was reduced from £752m in 2023-24 to just £556m in the current financial year.
Across the Irish Sea, the alarm bell was also sounded by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive due to the belief that the level of funding allocated in the Budget was “insufficient” to meet statutory homelessness obligations and will reduce the number of social homes being built “significantly”.
Back in Blighty, the National Audit Office (NAO) urged the government to lead on adopting a “genuinely” cross-departmental approach to tackling homelessness.
The NAO, which published a value for money report on the effectiveness of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ handling of homelessness since 2017, said this “might involve establishing a dedicated joint unit to oversee the implementation of the approach”.
It also recommended creating a long-term strategy for statutory homelessness.
The report came after Crisis, the homelessness charity, called for a cross-departmental unit to tackle all homelessness, similar to the one the previous Labour government had in place for rough sleeping.
On fire safety, building owners were reminded of their duties under the Building Safety Act 2022 after the directors of a care company were fined £124,000.
There were a number of technology-focused long reads this week. Our CPD module looked at artificial intelligence and robotic process automation, and how it could transform the way social landlords operate and create efficiencies.
With new planning rules coming in that mean developments must now map biodiversity and show a 10% increase, Inside Housing asked if satellite imagery can help landlords struggling with the new requirements.
Plus, technology is opening up new ways to quickly assess which homes are leaking heat, making them a priority to retrofit.
Inside Housing also revealed the winners of this year’s Women in Housing and Housing Heroes Awards.
Have a good weekend.
Stephen Delahunty, news editor, Inside Housing
Say hello: stephen.delahunty@oceanmedia.co.uk
Editor’s picks: five stories you may have missed
Stock-owning councils setting up housing boards amid new regulatory landscape
Ombudsman publishes complaints data per London borough as half come from the capital
S&P revises Wrekin outlook to negative after merger talks announced
Manchester delivers more affordable homes in one year than at any point in past decade
Sign up for our Week in Housing newsletter
Already have an account? Click here to manage your newsletters
