1. Tenant influence in landlord housing policies
Yvonne Davies
Scrutiny & Empowerment Partners Limited
Dec 2016

2. All change The Housing and Planning Act 2016 and U Turns Right to Buy
Pay to stay
Mandatory Fixed Term Tenancies
Local Housing Allowances
Different for LAs (Councils and ALMOs - Arms length Management organisations) than HAs –
Recent changes to this

3. Where are we with the Right to Buy (RTB) for HA tenants?
Deal for HAs to extend the RTB on a voluntary basis to HA tenants
What success from the HA pilots?
U Turn – 5 year regional pilot – test 1 for 1 replacement
U Turn – postponed to after 2018 at the earliest
Government can pay compensation to HAs who lose homes
Sale off of high value council homes also delayed
Portable discount
HCA will monitor HAs compliance with RTB criteria, which they must publish

4. Where are we with Pay to Stay?
NOW VOLUNTARY for all tenures
– U turn on 21st November
Costly and a disincentive to earn
Tenants with more than £31k a year, or £40k in London could pay a higher rent.
This rent would be set and updated annually (CPI linked)
Tenants must declare income and LAs will share data with HMRC
Additional income is paid to the Treasury
HAs can choose to implement this policy

5. Fixed term tenancies
NO change
Govt will and lifetime tenancies for social housing – starting with council tenants
HAs can choose to implement this policy
Most new LA tenancies 2-10 years fixed (Inc ALMOs)
Min of 5 years, max of 10 if the child in the home is under 9 years
Some secure tenancies may be agreed
Landlords can take account of local circumstances
End of term – LAs/ALMOS will agree to extend or offer an alternative home
Government will review the use of ‘lifetime tenancies’ for social housing with the aim of limiting their use and ensuring that best use is made of stock

6. Local Housing Allowance
Local Housing Allowance – Private Sector
2018 – U Turn to 2019 start
Includes service charges
Benefit entitlement for shared accommodation
Those under 35 years
Those in sheltered or supported accommodation
“Shelter” benefit calculator or contact LA
Greater Liverpool
Shared Accommodation Rate:£57.77 per week
One Bedroom Rate:£90.90 per week
Two Bedrooms Rate:£ per week
Three Bedrooms Rate:£ per week
Four Bedrooms Rate:£ per week

7. So how can residents engage in policy?
Get a presentation from your landlord
The risks you and they face
Their intentions to develop policy in these areas
The content of the White paper due out by Dec 2016
List questions you have
Invite the manager back to answer your points at another meeting
Agree how you will be kept informed of changes and how other tenants will too
Agree how your views will be considered in policy development

8. Any questions? yvonne@tenantadvisor.net www.tenantadvisor.net