rented housing

Popularity of countryside living causes rural rent increase

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Astonishing prices which leave me wondering how much people then have left to pay for anything else in rural settings. This story tells us:

The move towards countryside living is raising rural renting costs in Norfolk, says Rightmove.

Renters have turned their sights to the countryside, as homebuyers did before them.

New data from property website Rightmove shows that rental prices in rural and suburban areas in the UK have jumped 11pc compared to 2pc in urban areas.

Rightmove claims that this is due to a longing for outside space and separation from cities.

Rent prices in rural areas have risen by £122 a month, from £1,142 in February 2020 to £1,264 in October 2021.

Demand for rural homes is up 224pc and availability is down by 61pc, and demand for suburban homes is up 155pc and availability is down 45pc.

Private renters in England on ‘cliff edge’ as eviction ban ends

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I suspect this story will involve an important number of rural tenants and with less local property and less choice their plight may end up being amongst the most acute examples of disadvantage in this context.

Almost two million private renters fear they will be unable to find another property if they lose their home after the eviction ban is lifted, ministers are being warned.

With the ban coming to an end this week, the government is facing demands for emergency legislation to increase the permanent protection for those struggling to pay their rent as a result of the Covid pandemic. Councils are also warning of a “cliff edge” of homelessness in the months ahead unless action is taken, with a potential £2.2bn bill for the state.

Private renters are those most at risk at the end of the ban, which has been repeatedly extended amid concerns about the build-up of rent arrears during the crisis. Among private renters in England who are worried about losing their home and who are already cutting back on heating and food to pay rent, 72% are worried they will be unable to find another home in the future. The finding, from a study by homelessness charity Shelter, equates to about 1.9 million privately renting adults.

About 700,000 renters served with ‘no-fault’ eviction notices since start of pandemic

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Some interesting challenges surfaced in this article, remembering that it is more difficult for people in rural settings to find new homes and some very good news about the decision to keep the pressure on developers to bring forward affordable housing.

About 700,000 renters are estimated to have been served with “no-fault” eviction notices since the start of the pandemic, despite a government promise to scrap the practice.

The estimate is based on polling of a cross-section of private renters and comes two years to the day that the government announced “private landlords will no longer be able to evict tenants from their homes at short notice and without good reason”.

But the so-called section 21 eviction notices are still in use and ministers are now facing a new push to deliver on their promise from a new coalition for reform of renters’ rights, which includes the charities Generation Rent, Crisis and Shelter, as well as Citizens Advice and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The renters’ reform bill, which promised to abolish no-fault evictions, was announced in the last Queen’s speech in December 2019 but has not yet been delivered.

Countryside campaigners have welcomed a quiet U-turn by the government on one aspect of affordable housing policy. Ministers have signalled that they will not raise the minimum threshold at which developers of new housing estates are required to provide affordable units from 10 to 40 or 50 homes, as originally proposed in draft planning reforms.

Tom Fyans, the deputy chief executive of CPRE, said: “Rural communities are facing unprecedented pressure when it comes to housing – rising house prices and low rates of affordable housebuilding are only making this situation more precarious. So, it is a massive relief and hugely welcome that the government has decided to drop its proposal to massively loosen the duty for developers to build affordable homes.”

North Yorkshire commission calls for grass roots approach to tackle rural housing crisis

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Most rural commentators know this but I think it is useful to be regularly reminded that affordable housing is in very short supply in rural settings. This story tells us:

The dire lack of affordable properties available to both buy and rent has been blamed for an exodus of young people from many villages and market towns across the country. 

In some of the most desirable districts to live in North Yorkshire, the average property costs nearly £400,000 while the weekly wage in the county is just over £530. 

The Yorkshire Post revealed on Saturday that housing experts had warned the Government that Yorkshire and the rest of northern England are being “frozen out” of vital home-building schemes because of funding criteria which favour London and the South East.

Councils awarded share of £4m to tackle rogue landlords and letting agents

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I think my relatively local MP, Robert Jenrick, is fronting up a number of really interesting initiatives, this might be much “smaller beer” than the towns fund work he has initiated but I believe it’s an important step and not something which is relevant just to urban authorities. This story tells us:

A government offer of £4m for councils to crack down on rogue landlords has been dismissed as a “drop in the ocean” which will not be enough to end exploitation of vulnerable renters.

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said the money would be shared between more than 100 councils across England to tackle landlords who flout the law by offering inadequate or unsafe homes.

Mr Jenrick said the scheme, whose funding was announced in November, would help deliver “a better deal for renters”.

“It’s completely unacceptable that a minority of unscrupulous landlords continue to break the law and provide homes which fall short of the standards we rightly expect – making lives difficult for hard-working tenants who just want to get on with their lives,” he said.

“Everyone deserves to live in a home that is safe and secure, and the funding announced today will strengthen councils’ powers to crack down on poor landlords and drive up standards in the private rented sector for renters across the country.”

Crown estate faces tenants’ anger over rent hikes, evictions and repair delays

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The Prince of Wales is a rural champion from my perspective, this article makes less good reading about the crown estate and its relationship with its tenants. It tells us:

Scores of complaints have been made about rented properties on royal land and tenants have faced more than 100 evictions, a Guardian investigation has found, prompting anger over how the Queen’s £14bn property portfolio is managed.

The crown estate, which helps bankroll the Queen by giving the monarch 25% of its profits, has sought to evict 113 tenants in the past five years so they can sell their homes for profit.

It comes after it has emerged on Tuesday that the taxpayer has footed a £2.4m bill to renovate Frogmore Cottage, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s official residence, according to royal accounts. While the royals have no direct oversight role in crown estate’s dealings, Prince William and Prince Charles have both spoken before about the importance of ensuring good quality housing is available for all.

Figures obtained by the Guardian show that the crown estate has received more than 100 complaints about its residential properties in just two years, including grievances over rent hikes, leaks, delays in repairs and faulty electrical goods.

One evicted tenant accused the crown estate – which made £329m profit last year – of “greed”. The retired police officer, who said he was left thousands of pounds out of pocket after being evicted, told the Guardian: “The crown estate are custodians, they are not a bloody commercial estate agent. They are custodians and therefore they have a social duty to the public and their communities.”

An investigation using data obtained through Freedom of Information laws reveals that:

  • The crown estate has made £1.1bn selling off more than 700 residential and commercial properties since 2014, with one private firm subsequently hiking rent well above inflation.
  • More than a quarter of a million pounds has been banked by the crown estate in housing benefit from just seven hard-up tenants.
  • Four tenants have sued the crown estate for breach of contract, including one claim worth half a million pounds.

The disclosures will be uncomfortable for senior royals who have previously expressed their concern over the state of private rental properties. In March, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited dilapidated housing in Blackpool and saw rain leaking through the windows of a property and holes in the ceiling. The third-in-line to the throne later said during the visit: “There is a sadder side to Blackpool,” adding: “And we shouldn’t skirt around these issues.”

Rogue landlords have little to fear from cash-strapped councils

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This article demonstrates how difficult it is in the current climate to tackle the actions of rogue landlords in the public interest. It tells us:

There are two ways to deal with rogue landlords: either licence all landlords (as is being done in Scotland and Wales) or simply target the rogue landlords, which is what this impending housing bill proposes.

David Cameron is right that his government is going further than previous governments in dealing with rogue landlords. But these new plans presuppose that local authorities have a well-funded crew of trained people able to use this legislation to tackle rogue landlords – but most don’t.

The recent swingeing council budget cuts of April 2015 have led to many enforcement posts being deleted and people doubling up on duties they have no previous experience of. Without enough staff to enforce these standards rogue landlords will continue to operate beyond the resources of councils.

Work in Lincolnshire, for example on former RAF bases has demonstrated that the issue of rogue landlords is not just a city problem.