Rents for social housing from 2015 to 2016

Following announcements at Budget 2013 and the Spending Round 2013 on changes to rent policy the main changes are:

• moving from annual increases in weekly rents of Retail Price Index (RPI) + 0.5 percentage points (+ up to £2 for social rents), to increases of Consumer Price Index (CPI) + 1 percentage point

• as a result, removing (from 1 April 2015) the flexibility available to landlords to increase weekly social rents each year by an additional £2, above the increase in formula rent, where the rent is below the rent flexibility level and rent cap

• making clear that rent policy does not apply where a social tenant household has an income of at least £60,000 a year

Section 197 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 gives the Secretary of State certain powers to direct the social housing regulator to set standards, and about the content of those standards. Once formally issued, a direction is binding on the regulator when it consults on and set standards for private registered providers. We propose to use these powers to issue a new direction to the regulator on rent. We also propose to issue new guidance to stock-owning local authorities, a draft of which is included in the consultation.

This consultation invites views on the proposed changes to the policy, draft direction and draft guidance. It runs for 8 weeks and closes on 24 December 2013.