ROOF Blog

The Tenant Services Authority, the new social housing regulator will consult with councils and arms-length management organisation (ALMO) tenants and landlords, bringing them under its remit, alongside housing associations and other for-profit providers, as recommended by the Cave report. The TSA goes live in December and will spend its first eight months in informal consultation with tenants and providers before opening its register to local authorities and ALMOs in 2010.

The housing ombudsman has published its annual report, and revealed that the number of complaints considered by the service has increased by more than 10 per cent since last year. The largest number of complaints was about disrepair, accounting for 32 per cent of the total. The ombudsman said that tenants in social housing will soon have a single regulator, access to the service, and a forum for their voices. In contrast he slammed the rights of private sector tenants, calling their treatment as that of second class citizens.

A third of homeowners think the value of their property has not been affected by the housing market downturn according to research by a property valuation site. Around 32 per cent of people said they thought their home was worth the same or more than it was 12 months ago, even though the research showed that 97.3 per cent of UK house prices had fallen in this time. A further 38 per cent of homeowners expect their property to hold its value or increase in the coming months, prompting a spokesperson to comment that there was a significant gap between perception and reality.

A Bill allowing councils to impose higher energy efficiency standards on new homes is set to become law today. The Bill allows councils in England and Wales to require that a proportion of energy used in developments should come from renewable sources, and they may also be allowed to set higher efficiency targets than under the current rules.

Shelter is again under fire for its support for the proposed eco-town in Middle Quinton, from local MP Peter Luff. Mr Luff said that the Shelter report into the eco-town, which called for ‘much needed social housing’ in the area, was influenced by Communities and Local Government. In a letter to Shelter he agreed that while there was a need for more social and affordable housing in his constituency, he argued that there was no such need existing at the preferred site of the town.

Meanwhile in Wales, Shelter Cymru has claimed that as many as 24,500 empty homes could be used to house thousands of families on council waiting lists. It wants councils to use their legislative and financial resources to use the homes, all of which Shelter claims have been empty for six months of longer, for more than 80,000 households currently on the waiting list. A Shelter spokesperson said: ‘People are unable to find suitable homes in their communities and allowing properties to remain empty has both social and economic costs.’

The Gambling Commission has postponed a raffle in which a £1 million property was the prize. The draw was due today, and 46,000 tickets have been sold, each costing £25 each. But the commission, which has recently warned homeowners who were considering selling their houses in this way that they could be breaching the law, has said that lotteries are the ‘preserve of good causes and cannot be operated for private gain’. There have been several similar schemes of late as homeowners have tried to the beat the credit crunch. The owners of the house said they were in discussions with the Gambling Commission to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

The housing minister will attend Cabinet meetings, Gordon Brown confirmed in his acceptance speech as the new Labour leader yesterday, while housing will be a priority alongside health and education. The speech is covered in today’s papers including the Financial Times and Independent.

Government plans to build 200,000 homes a year display a ‘poverty of ambition’ according to Conservative housing spokesman Michael Gove speaking at Harrogate last week.

But Tory MPs and councillors are promising a big revolt if the party leadership tries to push through more housebuilding in the South East, according to today’s Telegraph.

The worst housing crisis in Britain? The Herald profiles the Isle of Arran, which is says has the longest waiting list in the country as a proportion of residents.

Housebuilder Persimmon said the housing market was set to shrug off recent interest rate rises as it reported higher profit margins this morning.

Buy-to-let landlords get £2bn a year in tax relief from setting mortgage payments against rental income, according to Saturday’s Guardian. But the Observer warns amateur landlords could be caught out by a crash.

HIPs for three-bed homes may come in as early as September, says Saturday’s Guardian. But the Observer says the delay in the timetable is causing chaos in the private rented market.

Ballot papers are going out to 30,000 tenants in Lambeth today over the London council’s plan for an almo.

Local authoritites should see their first increase in capital receipts for four years this year, according to DCLG figures released on Friday. However, much of the increase will come from a share sale and property deal rather than right to buy sales.

The National Housing Federation has attacked yesterday’s Cave report on regulation for being too bureaucratic and short changing tenants (it wanted housing association boards clearly accountable to tenants). However, the CIH welcomed Cave’s ‘tenant-first approach’.

Ruth Kelly’s full speech at Harrogate, which includes more on the Cave review and Communities England, is now on the DCLG website.

Also at Harrogate, the key role housing plays in community cohesion was highlighted in a speech by Housing Corporation deputy chief executive Steve Douglas. And CIH president Paul Diggory called for £11.6bn for housing in the spending review and said buy-to-let tax reliefs were harming first-time buyers.

Mortgage lending reached a record £30.6bn in May – 5% up on a May 2006 – according to CML figures released this morning. However, the rate of growth was down from the 12-14% seen in the last few months.

An SNP scheme to give a £2,000 grant to first-time buyers in Scotland has been assessed as ineffective in Australia, where the idea was pioneered, reports the Herald.

The Mirror has details of 47 Labour MPs – including Ruth Kelly – with majorities smaller than the waiting list in their area.

Super-rich foreigners are using non-domiciled tax privileges to drive up house prices, reports The Independent.

Housing associations that perform poorly on development could face tough sanctions from the Housing Corporation, reports Inside Housing.

The goverment is considering basing Communities England in the north of England, reports Inside Housing.

An overwhelming 86% of tenants in Mole Valley have backed a stock transfer with a turnout of 72%.

Papers including The Times report that Gordon Brown is refusing to increase spending on child poverty despite this week’s poor statistics that suggest it won’t succeed in abolishing halving it by 2010.

In the Financial Times Martin Wolf argues that lone parent benefits amount to a ‘war on the family’. ‘Trying to eliminate child poverty by subsidising the form of family that is most likely to suffer from it is like trying to bale out a boat with a sieve,’ he says.

But Polly Toynbee in The Guardian says Labour must stick with what she calls ‘the most extraordinarily ambitious social project, greater than anything any western government has ever attempted in such a timeframe’.

The Times reports on the peacetime house price boom in Northern Ireland, with bidding for a house in Belfast’s former ‘murder triangle’ reaching £800,000.

The Housing Corporation has published a study by the Chartered Institute of Housing into the rationalisation of housing association stock.

CIH Cymru has published a new report on housing and its benefits in Wales.

NHF chief executive David Orr told Euro MPs yesterday that household energy efficiency improvements should be zero rated for VAT and that the government’s plan for a 5% rate does not go far enough.

The DCLG has published a regulatory impact assessment of home information packs, launched a new website aimed at industry and published the results of consultation.

The DCLG has also posted advice to local authorities on working together to identify sub-regional housing markets and practice guidance on strategic housing market assessments.