The Government has issued the promised consultation on a proposed direction to
the Regulator of Social Housing, on the previously announced social
rent policy from 1 April 2020.
The Government is proposing to issue a new direction from the
Secretary of State to the Regulator of Social Housing to ensure
that, from 2020 onwards, the Regulator's rent standard:
- reflects the Government's announcement in October 2017 that it intends
to permit registered providers to increase their rents by up to
CPI+1% each year, for a period of at least 5 years.
- applies to local authority registered providers (as well as to
private registered providers), to reflect the roll-out of Universal
Credit
The proposed direction brings local authority registered
providers of social housing within the scope of the Regulator of
Social Housing's Rent Standard and also sets out the basis on which
social rents and affordable rents are set.
The consultation paper is accompanied by:
- A draft policy statement on rents for social housing (Social
rent policy)
- The draft direction on the Rent Standard 2018
The consultation will close on 8 November 2018.
ARCH will be considering the consultation and accompanying
documents and we encourage our members to submit views and comments
to ARCH Chief Executive, John Bibby ( john.bibby@arch-housing.org.uk
) for inclusion in our response, by no later than 30 September
2018.