Agenda item

To consider a report from the Senior Strategy Officer- Stragic Planning and Housing, on the Setting of Affordable Rent Levels.

The Chair welcomed Officers and Lead Member Councillor Rhys Thomas to the meeting.

 

The Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services introduced a report on the setting of Affordable Housing Rents to the Committee. Officers stated that there was a mature and productive relationship with Housing Associations within the County. Housing Associations and the Council worked closely together to deliver the housing need within the County.

 

The Strategic Planning and Housing Manager guided members though the report.

 

Affordable Rent was split into two categories, social rent and intermediate rent. Social rent was the lowest most affordable kind of rent and most Council and Housing Association (Registered Social Landlords) properties have rent pitched at this level. All local housing authorities and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) in Wales were required to comply with the Social Housing Rent and Service Charge Standard. The Standard was brought in as part of The Housing (Wales) Act 2014.

 

The report presented was concerned with intermediate rent.  The definition of Intermediate Rent was set by the Welsh Government (WG) as rent that is pitched at either Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate (determined by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to be the lowest third of open market rents), up to a maximum of 80% of market rent; the figure was inclusive of service charges. Intermediate Rent was market led rather than income led and therefore was affected by rent increases seen recently in the private rented sector.

 

Intermediate Rent was an option available to private developers alongside assisted home ownership, when considering planning obligations on new development sites. In Denbighshire there were 15 dwellings owned by 3 different private developers, which were rented out as intermediate properties.

 

Affordable Housing within the County was accessible via the Tai Teg register which was operated by Grŵp Cynefin. There were currently 960 applicants requesting Intermediate Rental Accommodation which had grown significantly. The increase in demand could be explained by the uncertainties in the job market, Brexit and Covid, property prices had also been increasing dramatically.

 

There had been issues regarding service charges being included within intermediate rent and a number of meetings had taken place with Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and Welsh Government officers concerning this. In conclusion to these meetings, it was agreed that the Welsh Government guidance was slightly unclear and therefore they issued a letter (previously circulated as appendix (iv) to the report) to clarify any concerns stating that Intermediate Rent should include any service charges.

 

There was a further commitment from Welsh Government to review Intermediate Rent levels as part of their future policy however, there was no timescale for this at this time.

 

The Chair thanked the Strategic Planning and Housing Manager for the report and welcomed questions from Members.

 

Members referred to the service charges and questioned if this was a way of increasing rent by the developers. The Head of Affordable Homes (Clwyd Alyn) stated that some communal areas were maintained by the developer, there was an annual charge for each property which was passed onto the residents as a service charge.

 

Members asked if a tenant was having financial difficulties were the Housing Associations able to adjust the rent and service charges. The Clwyd Alyn Representative stated that they explored ways of helping tenants to pay their rent by issuing food and energy vouchers - they had a Residents Fund set aside for such circumstances - however, they could not stop the service charges. Consultations with residents had taken place to establish ways in which to reduce the service charge as much as possible for example cutting communal grass areas every 3 weeks instead of every 2 weeks.

 

Members discussed if the service charge included the maintaining of play areas and whether they were being brought back under public ownership through Denbighshire County Council (DCC). The Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services stated that they would raise this question with the Head of Highways and Environment and get a written response to this query to members following the meeting.  Adra advised that they did have communal play areas on some of their estates, whereas Clwyd Alyn did not have any.  Some developers had play areas on the estates they managed and the maintenance costs for those were included in the service charges.

 

Members discussed pro-active communication plans that the Housing Associations had in place to help low-income tenants and questioned how RSLs were communicating the support that was available to households who were struggling the most.

 

Representatives from both Clwyd Alyn and Adra stated that they were very pro-active with providing tenants with information on the support that was available to them. Tenants’ arrears were closely monitored, and direct contact was made with the tenant to explore potential avenues of help that may be  available to them. Tenants were also informed of agencies that would be able to help them to access any grants/funding that they were entitled to. Before being allocated a property all tenants underwent an affordability check to ensure that they were able to afford the property. Early Intervention Officers were also in place to help struggling tenants.  Each RSL gave an outline of their own association’s early intervention and support services which were available and provided to tenants who were struggling.  They emphasised that supporting the health and well-being of their tenants was an integral part of their day-to-day business and a core element behind their establishment.

 

Members queried whether all Housing Associations communicated with each other and shared information. The Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services explained that there was a very close working relationship between Housing Associations and the Council. Regular meetings were attended to allow for discussion of future plans and emerging concerns. 

 

Members questioned if the Police attended the regular meetings that were held in the event of a disruptive tenant, this would allow the information to be shared. The Affordable Homes Manager stated that the Police did not attend these meetings as they were primarily to discuss practices and processes. If there were any cases of anti-social behaviour a separate multi- agency meeting would be held.

 

Members asked about tenancy agreements and whether they were the same within all Housing Associations. The Head of Affordable Homes (Clwyd Alyn) explained that every Housing Association had a standard contract, also known as Occupation Contracts for Intermediate Rent tenants which had the same policies and procedures outlined within them.  These contracts were rolling contracts and each tenant had a designated Housing Officer who was available to them for advice and could help signpost them to other agencies and services that may be able to provide support to them.

 

At the conclusion of an in-depth discussion the Chair thanked officers and representatives from all registered social landlords in attendance for providing comprehensive and constructive answers to members’ questions.  The Committee:

 

Resolved:  subject to the above comments and observations to –

 

(i)             confirm that it had read and understood the process of setting intermediate rents; and

(ii)           support the continuation of the work with Private Landlords and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) to strategically implement intermediate rents where appropriate to ensure the development of sustainable communities and maintain affordable tenancies.