Section: Housing Management

Wheel Clamping Licensing

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) introduced compulsory licensing for anyone seeking to clamp, tow away, or block vehicles on private land for a fee. Proof of the licence must be worn at all times when on duty.

Licensing is designed to protect the public by raising professional standards among those properly responsible for vehicle immobilisation. The licence requires that:

It is a condition of the licence that exemptions to immobilisation are afforded to marked emergency vehicles and those that display a valid disabled badge.

When a release fee is collected a receipt, which shows the location of the vehicle when it was immobilised, its licence number, the date of the action, and the name and signature of the person paying the fine, must be issued.

The SIA does not regulate vehicle immobilising on public roads.

Eviction should be the Last Resort

Eviction of tenants from council and housing association properties should be seen as a last resort according to Government research, which was incorporated into new guidance.

The ODPM guidance for social landlords is the result of an evaluation by Glasgow and Heriot-Watt universities into the use of possession actions.

The research concludes that social landlords need to employ management strategies to prevent rent arrears, and, where they were continuing to build-up, to provide help for tenants from an early stage to recover the arrears, including agreement to a debt management plan, and referrals to debt advice or mediation.

To underpin the guidance, the ODPM amended the Best Value Performance Indicators to monitor possession and eviction trends, and to encourage social landlords to start proceedings only as a last resort. The Housing Corporation has already backed eviction as a last resort in a circular, published in July 2004, clarifying its expectations as regards housing association eviction policies.

The ODPM is also proposing to establish a national database on the use of possession action and to collate eviction information already being collected locally in England and Wales by local authorities, housing associations, and other national bodies, such as the Welsh Assembly and Housing Corporation.

Information Notes

The research and guidance were commissioned in 2003 in response to concerns, identified by the ODPM and the Department for Constitutional Affairs and highlighted by Shelter and the Citizens Advice, at the rising number of possession actions and evictions by social landlords.

The research found that Possession actions by social landlords more than doubled in the decade to 2003, with evictions running at around 26,000 tenants annually. The vast majority of such re-possessions are triggered by rent arrears. A small proportion was used to counter antisocial behaviour.

Vulnerable tenants, including those with mental-health problems and those with alcohol and drug misuse issues, are thought particularly liable to accumulate arrears. Once evicted, former tenants are often disqualified from social housing.

In Brief

Housing Monthly Diary

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Issue: September 2005 Reporting on May-August 2005

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