In our shiny bright new year, DCLG is consulting on a new version of the Allocations Code of Guidance following the enactment of the Localism Act 2011, which has made several seemingly minor substantive alterations to Part 6, Housing Act 1996 (although those...
Transfers and allocations: Pt 2 (a footnote)
We reported on the interesting High Court decision in Babakandi v Westminster CC [2011] EWHC 1756 (Admin) (a post-Ahmad challenge to Westminster's housing allocation scheme) and made a few observations of our own on the judgment, most notably regarding the...
The Localism Bill: Rush, rush, rush …
It is certainly not a truism that legislation which is given the closest possible scrutiny is thereafter free from doubt - consider, for example, the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, which we always used to call the mysterious provisions...
Transfers and allocations
In Babakandi v Westminster CC [2011] EWHC 1756 (Admin), Mr Babakandi made a bold challenge to Westminster's allocation scheme (bold, as in post-Ahmad v Newham LBC) together with other grounds. Westminster now has a choice-based lettings scheme based on...
Subletting and Pt 6 waiting time on Iplayer
People who unlawfully sublet social housing (often at a vast profit) are, in my view, dishonest and immoral fraudsters who deserve a range of punishments too awful for a family-friendly blog like this to describe. I suspect that the makers of Council Houses:...
Let’s all move to … Wales*
Forgive the slight delay in picking this up, but the Welsh Assembly has issued a consultation on a new Code of Guidance on allocations and homelessness (closing date 30.06.2011; comments to Affordablehousing.actionteam@wales.gsi.gov.uk or by post). By any...
This is a local town for local people …
Forgive the slight delay, but DCLG published their summary of responses to their Consultation on Local Decisions: A Fairer Future for Social Housing (which we discussed here) on 28 Feb. The outcome of the consultation appears to be, um, full steam ahead on...
Yeah but, no but …
Vicky Pollard continues the Chief's west country theme, albeit somewhat stretched, to demonstrate the Con-Dem approach to consultation about their affordable rent tenancy regime (ie what consultation?). We now have more detail courtesy of the HCA and a...
Localism Part Deux
The Localism Bill had a second reading in the Commons yesterday. One amendment (Labour) was tabled and defeated. Looks like the significant amendments will be made in Committee. Not - I must say - the best quality debate ever as it appears to have been...
Localism Bill published
The Localism Bill was published yesterday. I suppose it might be seen as an exciting time for the housing sector - somebody described it as a potential "paradigm shift" at an event I was at last week - but, whether or not that is correct (and it could yet...
Social housing reform “consultation”
The heavily trailed (eg here and here), "cataclysmic" consultation paper on social housing reforms has been published by CLG today. There is much to digest and much will be left to individual PRPs and local authorities to work out. The "consultation" is...
Allocations: Overwriting the effective date
One of the key things that choice-based lettings is designed to achieve is openness and transparency in housing allocation (or lettings, if you prefer). It does so mostly by using a relatively crude mechanism of determining priorities in and between...