Monday 20 July 2015

No wriggle room on rent settting following summer budget

I'm not convinced everyone is taking the 1% cut in rents year-on-year for social housing seriously enough.  I've heard people referring to revaluations, moving to target for new tenants etc. etc.


The plain answer is NO!  READ THE BILL, paragraph 19.








Whether or not you agree with the rent cuts the legislation is a masterpiece of tight drafting.  The key to it all is 8 July 2015.  Once you sift through the legal language what is it saying very simply is: the starting point is what rent you were charging on each and every property individually as at 8 July 2015.  You can't change that because it's been and gone.  It is a matter of history and record.  As this is the starting point rent from 1 April 2016 is the 8 July 2015 rent figure less 1%.  FULL STOP, END OF STORY!  There is no wriggle room!


Even if you have a new tenant the starting point for the new tenant is what the old tenant was paying...err... on 8 July 2015.  THERE IS NO MOVING THE RENT UP TO TARGET WITH NEW TENANTS!


The other old chestnut I've heard is "the Chancellor meant everyone has to set a rent increase 1% less than what they would have set", again, "Absolute Rubbish!"


Whether or not you agree with what the Chancellor's done, as far as the draft legislation goes it couldn't have been any clearer - or more tightly worded.



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