Briefings and responses

We welcome the Tenant Fees Bill and we are pleased that the Bill received cross-party support in the House of Commons. The Government’s intention to make private rented accommodation more accessible is positive. Excessive letting agent fees are a concern for many tenants and councils.

Councils are providing temporary housing for over 70,000 households, including over 120,000 children. The net cost has tripled in the last three years.

We welcome the Tenant Fees Bill and the Government’s intention to make private rented accommodation more accessible.

The green paper is a step towards delivering more social homes but it is only a small step, compared with the huge and immediate need for more genuinely affordable homes.

The Rough Sleeping Strategy sets out the Government’s strategy for halving rough sleeping by 2022 and ending it by 2027. It was published on 13 August 2018.

This briefing provides a summary of some of the key changes to the final revised National Planning Policy Framework from the version consulted on earlier this year, with a focus on the areas that the LGA has lobbied on.

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.

The planning process needs developers, councils and local communities to work together to create effective partnerships. The earlier in the planning process these relationships are built, the more likely it is that positive outcomes will be achieved.

The planning process needs developers, councils and local communities to work together to create effective partnerships. The earlier in the planning process these relationships are built, the more likely it is that positive outcomes will be achieved for local communities from new development.

The Tenant Fees Bill will abolish most upfront fees for tenants in England and cap security deposits at the equivalent of six weeks’ rent.