Localism Bill

My Lords, a whole series of significant points have been made which I hope do not get lost. We have had a kind of teach-in on all the issues around homelessness, which I hope can be carried forward in different ways. I shall speak to Amendment 173A, which differs from Amendment 173AA only in containing a typing mistake which Amendment 137AA has rightly expunged. Therefore, I hope I can count the noble Lords who follow me as supporting the same amendment as mine. The amendment also relates to the proposed ending of the obligation for local authorities to find a place for a homeless household, eventually, if not immediately, in the social sector; for example, in council or housing association accommodation. In future, local authorities would be able to discharge their duty by getting the household into a private landlord's property. Up to now, it has been assumed that the characteristics of social housing, security, which we shall discuss later, and relatively low rents alongside some social support from the landlord have been essential for those who have become homeless. However, some homeless people may not need anything more from their landlord than a roof over their heads for a year or so and some may be able to cope with higher rents in due course. More realistically, in many areas there is simply no alternative to the private rented sector for some of the people who have nowhere else to go. Even if the nation embarked on a major programme of new social housebuilding, which, despite the good effects on the wider economy, is highly improbable while deficit reduction is the greatest priority, it would be many years before that sector could satisfactorily meet the pent-up demand for affordable decent homes. Even so, using the private rented sector in place of social housing as the long-term solution to the needs of homeless people—households sufficiently vulnerable that councils must accept responsibility for them—is not the same as using the PRS for temporary, emergency accommodation, let alone for short-term lettings to students or to more affluent single people who plan to buy later. If the council’s duty towards a homeless family is for that family to be satisfied, on a permanent basis, in a privately rented property, that offer needs to satisfy rather higher standards of suitability than for short-term lets. After all, if the household were nominated to a housing association, its housing arrangements would come under the extensive regulatory powers of a statutory regulator, the Office for Tenants and Social Landlords, now known as the Tenant Services Authority, which is to be part of the Homes and Communities Agency. That regulator sets standards on matters like property condition, rent levels and the rights of tenants to be consulted and involved. In considerable contrast, private landlords have no regulator, no FSA, Ofcom, Oftel or Ofgem. Many argue, as emerged from the 2009 report from Julie Rugg at York University, that some regulation of the PRS is badly needed. The Association of Residential Letting Agents is keen for amendments to go forward to regulate letting and managing agents. That would bring some 60 per cent of private lettings into a regulated system, but it is clear that the Government are not likely, at present, to be convinced of the case for regulation of this sector. This means protection for the most vulnerable of tenants—the homeless family or the homeless individual—will have to be addressed in a different way. Tenants in the social housing sector can take their complaints to the Housing Ombudsman—whose role we will be discussing later—if their expectations of high standards of management and maintenance are not fulfilled. There is no ombudsman for complaints against private landlords. I should declare an interest, as chairman of the Property Ombudsman service, which hears complaints against estate agents, who must by law be part of a redress ombudsman scheme, and against managing and letting agents, who can voluntarily join an ombudsman scheme, but not complaints against private landlords. In the PRS, tenants must take their complaints all the way to the courts, with all the associated expense and hassle. If a long-term solution to a household’s needs is to be found in the unregulated private rented sector, and not in the regulated social housing sector, some basic requirements—much more basic than for housing associations, perhaps—would seem essential. Several enlightened local authorities have been working on accreditation schemes, to raise standards and distinguish between quality landlords and rogue landlords. Amendment 173A should help that approach. It provides a framework to assess the suitability of the PRS accommodation. It does not add to the duties on local authorities, but rather defines them more clearly. I am encouraged by the new statement from the Department for Communities and Local Government, entitled ““Proposed circumstances in which private rented sector accommodation used to end the main homelessness duty is to be regarded as ‘suitable’””. This statement helpfully pre-empts some of the aspects of suitability which my amendment, backed by Shelter and Crisis, seeks to address. Perhaps I could briefly spell out what the amendment aims to achieve, and how the DCLG statement assists. First, the amendment requires that the accommodation should be affordable to the homeless household, since otherwise it will get into arrears and lose the home fairly quickly; a sensible definition of affordability follows. The DCLG statement also suggests that the accommodation must be affordable, but without spelling out what this means. Secondly, the amendment requires that the location should be properly considered in relation to the tenant’s employment opportunities, their children’s schooling, services the household needs, ongoing support, care, hospital treatment and so on, and proximity to people for whom the tenant has caring duties, always bearing in mind the age of those affected and similar factors. The DCLG is silent on this, but I guess that any reasonable person would regard it as very unfair if the offer of PRS accommodation took no account of the location of the property for that particular household. Thirdly, the amendment requires that the landlord, and the managing agent if there is one, should be a ““fit and proper person””, using the same test as that for ownership and management of houses in multiple occupation. I am pleased to see that the DCLG statement takes this point fully on board. Finally, the amendment requires that the standard of the property satisfies the very low-level test of health and safety—again, that used for houses in multiple occupation. This, too, is covered by the DCLG statement, which would outlaw properties if they are found to fail the test of a category 1 hazard to health or safety, although without the obligation on the local authority to carry out the housing health and safety rating assessment before placing a tenant in the property. It is clear that the Government are thinking along the same lines as myself and the authors of this amendment. However, the response to date only takes us part-way down this road. I hope the Minister will be able to indicate that there is room for amendment to the DCLG statement. Amendment 173A would not secure the advantages of the social housing sector for those tenants who have faced the traumas of homelessness and are placed within the private rented sector; but it could prevent any switch from the social to the private rented sector bringing with it a host of problems for these households, and for the local authorities, which would have the unenviable task of repeatedly picking up the pieces if the new arrangements were constantly to fail. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s views.