HM King Charles III delivered his speech to Parliament on Wednesday 17th July 2024.

Prior to The King’s Speech being read, it was suggested that the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework) Guidance was to be reviewed. This aspect of planning, in itself, was not identified, however, there were some interesting aspects worth highlighting to members:

The Almshouse Association has long suspected a Private Renters’ Bill will come forward with the new Government and this was clearly referenced in the King’s Speech as a Renters Rights Bill here:

  • The Renters’ Rights Bill will transform the private rented sector, ending Section 21 evictions, applying ‘Awaab’s Law’ and applying a Decent Homes Standard to the sector amongst other things. 

     The Bill will:
    • Be stricter on ‘bidding wars‘ which have been increasing prices for renters and will give tenants the right to request a pet, which landlords cannot “unreasonably refuse”.
    • Make it illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants receiving benefits or those with children, and support “quicker, cheaper” resolutions where there are disputes, while giving councils new investigating powers to fine “bad actors”.
    • Create a ‘digital private rented sector database’ to bring together key information for landlords, tenants and councils.

  • Awaab’s Law, which forced social landlords to repair mouldy homes, will be extended to the private rented sector, along with a “decent homes standard” to ensure properties are “secure and hazard free”.

    Our Members will ask, “How does it affect us? We are not the Private Rented sector” This is true, but…our concern is that if we don’t gain Government and legislative recognition for the Charity status almshouses rightly hold close, we are at risk of being caught by one of these ‘scattergun’ Bills.

    The devil is in the detail; as we have seen with the Social Housing Act, there were a few details that didn’t quite work with the almshouse charity model and we will be alert to that during the development of these new Bills, but let us assume for now that we will be affected either directly or indirectly by some of these proposals.

    If your charity is Regulated (i.e. your Charity is a Registered Provider) you will already be affected by the Social Housing Bill. If your Charity is not registered (with the Regulator of Social Housing), the charity may – only may – be affected by this Bill – we just do not know for sure yet – it will all depend on the drafting of the Bill.

    Our good practice guidance in Standards of Almshouse Management covers many aspects of this Bill as indicated, so please do not worry unnecessarily – you are no doubt doing the right thing already. The Bill is, however, likely to have a specific set of procedures to follow and we will keep you informed.

    The key message in the interim is to make sure your Risk Assessment process is robust; if it is, it will pick up on any issues such as damp and mould that have the potential to affect the health of residents.

More details will follow after meetings with Civil Servants and as Government policy develops.

posted 18 July 2024