News

Joint ventures are playing a vital role in boosting housing supply but like venturing into any relationship, bear the risk of reaching a premature end.

The HCA has this week published two explanatory documents relating to the implementation of the deregulation measures set out in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 which will come into force on 6th April 2017 (D Day).

The Social Housing Rents (Exceptions & Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 come into force between 1 March and 6 April 2017.

On 2nd February 2017 the Court of Appeal considered the approach to be taken when determining whether costs had been reasonably incurred when considering the amount of service charge payable under section 19 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Importantly they gave particular consideration to the approach to be taken when considering costs relating to improvements as opposed to repairs.

Introduced as ‘a bold, radical vision for housing in this country’, the Housing White Paper ‘Fixing our broken housing market’ was published earlier today.

Wellingborough Homes, a not-for-profit housing association serving Wellingborough and the wider community, has entered into a Development Agreement with BDW Trading Limited for the development and acquisition of 84 Affordable Housing Units. This new development will help Wellingborough Homes fulfil its mission of creating neighbourhoods that are desirable, well integrated, environmentally friendly, safe and well managed.

Over the next week or so, three words – “Happy New Year !“ – shall be uttered to colleagues as normal business resumes following the Yuletide break. It seems like it was only yesterday that the same words were used as we waved goodbye to 2015 and said hello 2016.

The Autumn Statement revealed five key themes for the social housing sector and while uncertainty inevitably remains, registered providers (RPs) must take advantage of the potential opportunities.

As of 1st December 2016, the Immigration Act 2014 will be amended by Sections 39 to 41 of the Immigration Act 2016. The provisions apply to private sector landlords and to social landlords.

The new Construction and Engineering Protocol will come into effect on 9 November 2016 following a joint collaboration between TecBar and TecSA with the assistance of Mr Justice Coulson. The focus of the changes seems to be to reduce pre-action costs and speed up the pre-action procedure.

Since 2006, contracting authorities have been able to use the competitive dialogue (CD) procedure to procure contracts that cannot be awarded without prior dialogue with bidders due to the complex nature of the contract.

From low level noise through to full blown party houses, Airbnb and subletting is creating a broad range of issues for registered providers (RPs). That was the message that came through loud and clear at a recent event we held to discuss the impact of the room-letting website on the social housing sector.