High income social tenants: pay to stay

Following on from a commitment made in Laying the foundations, a housing strategy for England to tackle the problem of households earning high incomes who continue to occupy subsidised housing, this consultation proposes to introduce a ‘Pay to Stay’ scheme whereby landlords could charge a fair rent to tenants on high incomes who want to stay in their social homes.

The consultation invites views on how this proposal might be delivered, including:

• the income threshold above which high income tenants might be asked to pay a higher rent
• what the higher level of rent should be
• disclosure of income by tenants
• whether the policy should be voluntary or compulsory for social landlords

The consultation is aimed primarily at local authorities, registered providers of social housing, tenants and representative organisations, but any consultation responses received from other interested bodies and individuals.