The ALMO Hackney Homes relaxed its rules concerning improvements for tenants with rent arrears. It will allow improvements, such as upgrading of bathrooms and kitchens, to homes occupied with tenants with arrears of less than £250. Some 400 tenants have had improvements blocked because of rent arrears of less than that amount.
Lambeth Council's tenant-led arm's length management organisation (ALMO), United Residents Housing, set up its shadow board. The new ALMO brings together five tenant management organisations, each of which will continue to manage its own homes but under the banner of the new organisation.
Due to be operative from August this year, United Residents Housing aims to attract two-star Audit Commission inspection accreditation next January and secure the £23 million funding needed to bring the dwellings up to Decent Homes standard.
In the last 12 months Liverpool City Council's Vacant and Dilapidated Property Initiative has brought nearly 500 properties back into use. The initiative has proved popular with local communities, where it has helped curb abuse of empty properties.
As well as increasing the number of homes in the city, the scheme aims to:
The Council receives around 1,000 calls a year from people complaining of the blight caused by long-term vacant properties.
Newcastle City Council were urging landlords to check whether their properties need to be licensed with the deadline for submitting applications fast approaching. Landlords who own properties classed as houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) needed to be licensed with the Council from 3 July. But with less than a month to go, only 30 applications had been receive.
Landlords who rent out properties of three or more storeys high and which are occupied by five or more unrelated people needed a licence by the deadline. Any landlords who made no attempt to register by the deadline faced possible fines of up to £20,000.
The need for HMOs to have a licence was introduced in April this year as part of the Housing Act 2004. Conditions laid down as part of the licence set out details, such as the maximum number of occupants for the property, as well as stringent regulations relating to gas and electrical safety. In addition, furniture needs to comply with national safety standards and smoke alarms must be fitted, working and properly located.
Landlords also have to be fit and proper persons and have good tenant and management arrangements in place.
The Residents Property Tribunal ruled that Tower Hamlets Council had been overcharging management charges to one of its leaseholders for the past six years. The Tribunal ordered the Council to reduce its last five years accounts by 13%.
The Tribunal concluded that the level of service provided could not justify the management charge. The ruling also called on the Council to consider the implications of this case on other leaseholders and adopt its findings, where applicable, more widely.