social housing

Louise Drew, head of real estate at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, gives her insight into Voluntary Right to Buy…

The Voluntary Right to Buy (VRtB) pilot has now launched across the Midlands, giving social housing tenants the opportunity to purchase their homes at a discounted price, while enabling registered providers (RPs) to renew their stock. The scheme is widely seen as a positive step, providing welcome rejuvenation for the social housing sector, which has been suffering from a dramatic lack of supply. However, there will likely be a learning curve for RPs, so how should they prepare themselves in order to make the most out of the scheme?

At least 1 in 10 rental properties in England are likely to be advertised unlawfully by explicitly discriminating against people who rely on housing benefit, new research from the National Housing Federation and Shelter shows.

The analysis of around 86,000 letting agent adverts on Zoopla shows that 8,710 adverts for different residential properties in England say ‘no DSS’ or ‘no housing benefit’.

In January this year, the Regulator of Social Housing was borne out of the ashes of the Homes & Communities Agency. The new editor of Housing Association magazine, Victoria Galligan, asks: what has been done so far in 2018 to increase the number of social and affordable properties available?

There’s no doubt that demand for affordable housing has far outstripped supply, especially over the recent years of austerity. And with homes being taken out of local authority control through disposals, Right to Buy (RTB) sales and town regeneration schemes, the need for new social housing has arguably never been so high.

Airtech Environmental Systems, the ventilation specialists, is delighted to support UK Radon Awareness Week (5-11 November 2018.) Run by the UK Radon Association the theme for the 2018 campaign is Healthy Living with the focus being on raising awareness of how radon can affect all aspects of life, from home to workplaces.

Airtech, offers social housing providers a complete solution to help protect residents from the risks caused by Radon gas in the home. Domestic exposure to radon increases the risk of lung cancer, with 1,000 to 2,000 deaths each year estimated to be caused by exposure to the gas. Since Landlords have a responsibility to their tenants under Duty of Care and the Housing Act to provide a safe home, radon is a major consideration for social housing providers.

Gypsum plaster is one of the most extensively used materials within social housing but is it always the right solution? Matthew Allen, Business Development Manager for Tarmac’s Limelite product group, puts a case forward for the Limelite Plaster system as an alternative solution.

With the UK’s population rising, so too are the number of families and young people living in social housing. In the main, properties owned by housing associations have gypsum plaster applied to the internal walls. This is due to the ease of application and low-cost. Gypsum plaster has long been the ‘go to’ choice of professionals across the UK building industry, but possesses some inherent weaknesses which have been thrust into the spotlight in recent years, bringing into question its long-term suitability.

Joe Bradbury of Housing Association magazine asks whether we need a new approach to social housing as well as more money?

As part of the Government’s commitment to transform housebuilding, the Prime Minister recently announced £2 billion in new funding to give housing associations the long-term certainty they need to deliver tens of thousands of new affordable and social homes needed in Britain today.

With energy prices rising for the second time this year, Max Halliwell explores the impact this is likely to have on fuel poverty and looks at what can be done to help.

As we move from a scorching summer towards the cold of winter, the price of energy is in the news again as Ofgem, the industry regulator raised the cap on prices for the second time this year to cover higher wholesale costs that the energy suppliers are facing.

Scottish Power announced an increase of 3.7% or an average of £46 a year for just under a million customers and this news follows similar rises from British Gas with both companies blaming the continuing increases in the price of wholesale energy in the market.