Posted 13.02.13
The London Councils' Leaders' Committee renewed calls for the Government to consider introducing tax relief for private landlords renting to people claiming benefits, in order to encourage them back into the market and avert a homelessness crisis.
The supply of temporary accommodation in the private rented sector is dropping dramatically in London at the same time as demand is rising. In the last 18 months there has been an estimated reduction of 20% in the number of homes London boroughs can access.
Welfare reforms mean that the portion of the private rented market available to local councils for housing families has fallen, with just the bottom 30% of available privately-rented property now available, measured by the cost of rents.
This decline in supply is made worse by landlords choosing to withdraw from the temporary accommodation market due to local housing allowance rates being significantly lower than market rents for most of London.
London Councils@ Executive Member for Housing, Mayor Sir Steve Bullock, said:
"All boroughs are working hard to increase the supply of temporary accommodation but this is proving very difficult. Boroughs are expecting a continuing reduction in supply of private rented homes and increased levels of homelessness.
"These two factors are driving an urgent need to find alternatives to the current model, such as considering tax relief for landlords renting in the social housing sector.
"London Councils estimates that the scale of London's housing deficit by 2020 will be 221,700. This is an issue which will gather pace over the next year to eighteen months as the implications of welfare reform in London begin to become clearer but this combination of circumstances has already led to the current increased use of bed and breakfast."
Posted 26.02.13
In his 2012 Annual Report, The Property Ombudsman (TPO), Christopher Hamer, reiterates his call for some form of regulation of letting agents. At the very least, Mr Hamer argues that all letting agents operating in the UK should be required by law to join the Ombudsman scheme.
The Ombudsman says it is important that the Government heeds the current calls from TPO, trade associations such as ARLA and RICS and consumer groups such as Which? for legislation to embrace lettings agents, so they can be treated in the same way as sales agents and provide a consistency of redress for consumers.
He notes that whilst the Government want to avoid over regulation, the private rented sector has grown dramatically over the last decade with more people, including an increasing number of families with children, using it to provide a roof over their heads.
As a consequence of this growth, the role of letting and managing agents has also grown dramatically and is now a £1 billion per annum business, handling some £14 billion per annum of clients' money.
Whilst around 60% of lettings offices in the UK have voluntarily registered with TPO and follow its lettings Code of Practice, Mr Hamer argues that unless legislation is amended to require all letting agents to adhere to a set of common standards and offer their consumers a route to free redress, tenants and landlords alike will continue to be exposed to avoidable risk if they use one of the 40% who do not affiliate themselves to TPO, or to one of the main trade associations.
