Councils want their residents to live in homes that are decent, safe and secure, and councils’ housing teams work hard to ensure homes are fit for purpose.
Key messages
- We support the intentions behind the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation and Liability for Housing Standards) Bill. Councils want their residents to live in homes that are decent, safe and secure, and councils’ housing teams work hard to ensure homes are fit for purpose. Recent surveys show that standards in the private rented sector are an area of particular concern for tenants.
- Council and social housing tenants have a range of existing mechanisms to raise complaints. Local authorities are keen to work with the Government to strengthen these and clarify the statutory powers of the Housing Ombudsman. The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) must also be reviewed and simplified, with a proper focus on safety.
- Taking court action against a landlord would be a significant cost to some tenants, and bringing a successful case under the legislation may require substantial financial support to be provided. A lack of time and resource could leave all but the most financially secure tenants unable to fully exercise their right to legal challenge.
- Local authorities are calling for stronger powers to enhance standards in the private rented sector. Councils already have powers to introduce discretionary licensing schemes for private landlords, but the Government should provide greater flexibility to extend these schemes.
- Local government faces considerable financial challenges, including a funding gap of at least £5.8 billion by 2019/20. The Government could help councils by removing some of the financial burden from interventions such as discretionary licensing, and by ensuring that councils are able to reclaim the full costs for prosecutions.
- The majority of private renters are satisfied with their accommodation, but in 2015, 28 per cent of homes in the private rented sector were non-decent. By contrast, 14.8 per cent of local authority-owned homes were non-decent.
- To enable councils to improve the quality of their housing stock, the Government should provide greater control over long-term financial planning. This should include lifting the housing borrowing cap and removing restrictions on using Right to Buy receipts to build homes.
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Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation and Liability for Housing Standards) Bill Second Reading, House of Commons, 19 January 2018