The UK Government is set deliver the biggest change to renters’ law in a generation as they aim to improve the lives of millions of renters.
This is all part of the government’s ongoing plan to Level Up communities and help end regional inequalities by helping local councils to regenerate their towns.
This bill will aim to make an impact on both the private and socially rented sectors and those living in social housing will see an upturn in the quality of available homes as the Social Housing Regulatory Bill comes into effect. All registered social housing providers will be subject to tough new regulatory regime, with failing social landlords facing unlimited fines if they fail to meet the standards that are expected of them and the housing they are providing.
The Social Housing Regulatory Bill will not only place greater expectations on the landlords providing social housing but will also make sure that the landlord is placing the tenant’s concerns at the heart of what they do, with effective resident engagement in place. This engagement will also aim to go hand in hand with a greater transparency so that tenants will be able to see how their landlord is performing, how their homes are managed and who is responsible for compliance with health and safety requirements.
Michael Gove, the Levelling Up and Housing Secretary, said:
“Too many renters are living in damp, unsafe and cold homes, powerless to put it right, and under the threat of sudden eviction.
The New Deal for renters announced today will help to end this injustice, improving conditions and rights for millions of renters.
This is all part of our plan to level up communities and improve the life chances of people from all corners of the country.”
One key part of the government’s Levelling Up initiative is the economic support and regulation in place to allow communities to develop. The Social Housing Regulation Bill will not only support continued investment in a new supply of social housing, but it will also regulate the social housing sector, increasing protections for tenants’ homes.
Alongside these reforms, the government also introduced the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which will spread opportunity and prosperity to aid the transformation of communities across the country. Included in this is a significant package of measures to revive high-streets, regenerate town centres and deliver high-quality homes. It will also put legal foundations n place to deliver the government’s wide-reaching proposals to spread opportunity, drive productivity and boost local pride.
The reforms will also be of significant benefit to communities in Northern England, with data from the English Housing Survey showing that the proportion of non-decent homes is higher in the North than in other areas of the country.
PSE365 will be hosting a Public Sector Levelling Up virtual event on 17 November, sign up here.
