The Landlord Law Blog

TDS reduces numbers of adjudicators

2009-12-21T16:01:06Z

Further to my previous post here about the increases in TDS fees due next year, I have just seen this post here on This is Money, which claims that TDS “has slashed its team of adjudicators from 70 to 12“. This does seem to be a very great reduction and one hopes that it does not indicate a corresponding drop in quality of service.

It may be that TDS are hoping that the effect of their price hike next year will be to reduce the number of arbitrations. It does seem, from what they say, that some of the arbitration referrals are inappropriate to say the least – for example the dispute over £4.20 which apparently is not unusual.

It would be interesting to know if the other two schemes have had similar inappropriate referrals, and if so how they intend to deal with the problem. One would have thought that the DPS would have been particuarly vulnerable as they do not make a charge so cannot increase their fees to deter these cases.

Comments from the three scheme administrators welcome, as are comments from landlords or tenants on the quality of the arbitration service that they have experienced.

Housing Law Handbook, a practical guide – by Stephen Cottle and others

2009-12-18T10:28:08Z

It is not often realised by those outside the profession, that the Law Society produce some excellent handbooks on all sorts of legal topics. This book is a good example.

This book is really intended for housing law practitioners, essentially those looking after landlords and tenants in the social housing sector – mostly local authority housing, and housing associations.

A big part of that area of law, is the whole issue of homelessness and when a local authority is obliged to provide housing for someone in its area (allocation). This is looked at in the first two chapters.

There is then a big chapter looking at other circumstances where housing may or may not be provided, including issues relating to immigration and asylum seekers, accommodation under the Mental Health Act, housing and community care assessments, and accommodation under the Children Act. This takes us up to about half way through the book.

The following section looks at hazardous and unhealthy housing, and includes local authorities powers under the Housing Act 2004 and the Housing Health and Safety Rating system. There are then sections on prosecutions under the Environmental Health Act, and on disrepair where the authors look at claims under the Defective Premises Act 1972, the Occupiers Liability Act, the Human Rights Act, and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. This useful chapter ends with guidance on procedure (for example for getting injunctions), set off, and long leases, and a table on personal injury awards made under the Defective Premises Act.

Chapter 5 looks at anti social behaviour and the measures available to social landlords to control this, such as ASBOs, and includes a section on measures available to victims.

The final part of the book looks at possession proceedings, chapter 6 being a general chapter, chapter 7 looking at housing benefit and possession proceedings based on rent arrears, and chapter 8 looking at mortgage repossessions, followed by chapters on procedure and possession orders.

This is a well written and helpful book and will be enormously useful for all those working in social housing. It will also be helpful for those, such as myself, who practice more in the private sector, and I have already found matters of interest which I may well be writing about in the future. It can be purchased from Amazonfor £49.95.

The authors of the books are all practising barristers at Garden Court Chambers, and the book is aimed at a professional readership. This is reflected in the price, which many will think is a bit pricey. However notwithstanding this, it will be a valuable addition to the housing lawyers bookcase.

DWP publishes consultation paper on housing benefit

2009-12-16T08:41:26Z

As mentioned in my last post, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has now published a report and consultation on housing benefit. The paper sets out the departments thinking on the subject and makes interesting reading.

The report starts with a bit of self congratulatory backslapping, for example reporting that the turnaround time for new benefit applications has gone down by 45 days for the worst areas, that official error has been halved, and that complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman have gone down by 75%.

As is to be expected in the current financial climate, a major element in any reform today will be reduction in expenditure. As was reported in my post yesterday, one element of this was to be the withdrawal of the right for tenants to keep up to £15 for any excess of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) over the actual rent charged. However this change is not now going to take place until 2011.

Overall the Government want to simplify the system which they say is too complex. One long term ambition is to integrate housing benefit into the rest of the benefits system, although they accept that this will take some time.

They also want to encourage people more to go into work (always assuming that there is a job for them to go to). There is already an in-work benefits scheme but take-up of this is currently low, with about half of working people who might be entitled not claiming it. A new transition into work scheme is therefore being considered.

They are also considering awarding benefit for a fixed period of time, to reduce the complexities of the current system, where all changes in income have to be reported.

They report that rent levels generally are increasing, which is costing the system. The main reason for this is scarcity of housing, and more housebuilding is needed. However they also want to re-assess the way LHA rates are set, as they consider that these are sometimes set too high. The paper gives some suggestions on how this could be done. There are also proposals to change the fairer size criteria.

One of the most interesting aspects of the paper is the proposal to use housing benefit to bringing about improvements to the condition of properties and improve their energy efficiency. For example they are considering making the payment of benefit conditional upon properties meeting specific standards.

Many landlords have complained about the rule which provides that in most cases benefit is paid direct to the tenant and not the landlord. It looks as if this could be relaxed, but be made conditional upon the property being in good condition. Perhaps it is best to quote the paper itself here:

6.9 However, some stakeholders have raised concerns about the operation of direct payment of Local Housing Allowance to customers and we know that, in some cases, safeguard procedures are not being operated well enough. This is why we are working with local authorities to improve the guidance which helps them make decisions and to improve the quality and consistency of the decisions themselves.

6.10 But we would also like to consider returning an element of choice to customers which would enable them to decide to have their benefit paid directly to the landlord. We could consider requiring landlords to improve the quality or energy efficiency of their property in exchange for receiving direct payments.

6.11 The standards could include the Energy Performance Certificate Ratings, the Housing Health and Safety Rating Systems, operating in England and Wales, or the Repairing Standard—a standard for the repair of private rented accommodation in Scotland.

This is only a brief summary of the report as it affects the private sector, and does not cover everything. If you are interested you should look at the report itself. It is some 40 pages long and can be found here.

The paper is also a consultation exercise and has at the end a list of 15 questions the department would particularly like to have feedback on. The consultation period lasts until 22 February 2010. Anyone affected by the proposals set out in the paper should be sure and get their responses sent in by that date. Even if there is a change of government, it is likely that something is going to be done, so your answers will hopefully not be wasted.

Information about where to send feedback is given at the end of the report.

If you have any strong views on the matters set out in the report, I would also be interested to hear them and please leave your comments. For example what do you think about the suggestion to make payment of benefit conditional upon property standards and energy efficiency?

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Housing benefit / LHA scheme criticised by Shelter

2009-12-15T09:53:08Z

There have always been criticisms of the new Local Housing Allowance (LHA) scheme, for example see this report here I did in October 2007. Shelter have now issued further criticism of the scheme after surveying “more than 450 LHA claimants” (although perhaps not the most comprehensive survey – 1,000 would have been better). Their findings indicate that the scheme is failing both landlords and tenants, and is in urgent need of reform.

Shelter report that their survey shows that

81 per cent of people said they found it fairly or very difficult to find a suitable home that was affordable.
59 per cent of claimants said they had to make up shortfalls in their rent, and.
Many respondents were doing this by going without essentials such as food or sufficient heating

One of the main problems identified by Shelter in their report is that the boundaries of LHA areas are too wide. This means that in some areas tenants simply cannot afford the rents, and in others landlords are putting rents up to more than the market rent, as they know that the LHA allowance is higher.

Another problems is the fact (which has always been strongly criticised by landlords) is that LHA is paid direct to tenants and cannot be paid direct to landlords as before. Shelter says

The LHA system was also intended to give claimants choice and promote financial responsibility by paying rent money directly into their bank accounts rather than directly to their landlord. However, Shelter’s research has found that this system has contributed to more than a quarter of claimants falling behind on their rent payments.

The majority of claimants who had experience of both payment methods said they would prefer to have the money paid directly to the landlord.

Evidence from landlords also shows that a growing number are refusing to let to LHA claimants because of rent arrears due to the new payment method. Shelter’s research shows 60% of respondents found it difficult to find landlords who are willing to let to them as LHA claimants.

Well we all know that. Research by the National Landlords Association came to a similar conclusion.

It does look though, as if some sort of change if not reform is on the cards. This report here on the BBC site states that Government plans to do away with current arrangement which allows people to keep up to £15 if they find housing at a lower rent than the level of housing allowance set by their local authority, are due to be delayed until 2011 “as part of a wider reform of housing benefit”

We will have to wait and see what this “wider reform” consists of, but landlords will be hoping that it will re-instate the right for benefit to be paid direct to them. After all the Tories have already said that this is what they will do if they come into power.

**STOP PRESS!! My spies at the NLA tell me that the DWP will publish their Housing Benefit Reform consultation report shortly**

Two disrepair cases and one HSE prosecution

2009-12-09T11:47:14Z

I have just received the excellent Legal Action Magazine, and have found three cases, which I hasten to share with you.

HSE v. Hussain – Stafford Crown Court – 25 February 2009

This was a prosecution brought by the HSE under the gas regulations against Mr Hussein. Mr Hussein had 12 properties, 9 had gas appliances but only two had gas safety certificates. When the appliances were inspected a number were ‘immediately dangerous’ and the rest were ’at risk’.

Mr Hussein pleased guilty and was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £44,500. The court also ordered immediate 18 months imprisonment if default of payment. Landlords of properties with gas appliances be warned!

Aslam v. Ali – Birmingham County Court – 10 June 2009

Here the tenant and his family lived in a four bedroomed house, but because of the lack of heating and general poor condition of the property, the family had to sleep in just two rooms and use extra blankets to keep warm.

The Judge awarded damages of 50% of the rent of £60 per week for the period they had suffered, and special damages to cover the extra cost of the blankets and for some repair work the tenant had carried out.

Smith v. Farnworth – Wigan County Court – 3 September 2009

Here tenants in a private property suffered water penetration to a conservatory, a defective boiler, a mising gutter and damage to the bedroom ceiling. The tenants also suffered intimiation from the landlord, including threats of removal.

The Judge awarded:

total general damages of £4,700
£500 for the intimidation
£5,000 for exacerbated distress, and
£3,500 for the claimants son for exacerbation of his asthema

Its good to know that some bad landords at least are not getting away with it.

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