You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Government confirms deregulation under RTB deal
The government has confirmed it will implement wide-ranging deregulatory measures as part of its deal with housing associations on the Right to Buy.
David Cameron last week announced he would accept the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) offer to implement the extension of Right to Buy discounts voluntarily.
Today, Greg Clark, the communities secretary, confirmed the government will implement measures which include relaxing rules on taking tenants from council waiting lists and selling off existing stock.
The measures were included in the NHF’s offer document to government, but ministers had so far remained tight lipped on whether they would be accepted in full.
In a written statement to Parliament today, Mr Clark said: “As part of the agreement, the government will also implement deregulatory measures which will support housing associations in their objectives to help support tenants into home ownership and deliver additional supply of new homes.”
The measures echo some of the recommendations of a controversial Policy Exchange report last year, Freeing Housing Associations.
The NHF offer document said: “The government recognises that there is a case for housing associations to have greater control over their assets to enable them to deliver this ambitious agenda.”
It proposes changes to the disposals consent regime, where the housing regulator has to agree to the sale of social housing properties to raise funds for new development.
The document says the government would seek to “amend the existing requirement for the regulator to give consent prior to the disposal of stock in order to reduce bureaucracy”.
It also says more freedom would be given to change the tenure of homes from social and affordable rent to other tenures – including examining rules in stock transfer and planning agreements.
On allocations – the process by which local authorities nominate tenants from their housing waiting list to association homes – it says: “The government would work with the local authority sector to examine how we can ensure that nominations to housing association stock are appropriate to the properties concerned.”
After they were announced, sector leaders told Inside Housing the proposals would mark “a new era” for housing associations if accepted.
