The North's PRS Part II: Time for change
The Week in Housing 21/04/23
This is the second part of our two-part guest series from Renters’ Voice (see Part I here). Thanks again to RV for these fascinating contributions. On another note, applications for the Equality Studies M.S.c at UCD (which I am Director of) are now open - more details here or contact me directly.
Last week we examined some of the contributing factors to affordability issues in the private rented sector in the North, as well as highlighting some key findings from our Renters’ Voice cost of living surveys. This week, we explore some potential solutions.
Social Housing
Although Renters’ Voice campaigns for the rights of private tenants, we recognise that a strong supply of affordable and high quality social housing benefits everyone. A lack of social homes in Northern Ireland is exacerbating problems in the private rented sector and pushing more people into homelessness.
At the end of 2021, then-Housing Minister, Sinn Féin’s Deirdre Hargey, published a Housing Supply Strategy that promised to deliver 100,000 new homes over the next 15 years. At least a third of these homes were to be social homes. In the absence of an Executive and functioning Assembly, the Housing Supply Strategy has stalled.
In the meantime, NI’s social housing waitlist is growing. Many households find themselves renting privately while they wait for a social home - sometimes for years. At the last count in 2022, there were 44,426 people recorded as waiting for a social home, and an unknown number who are not registered because of the perceived impossibility of accessing social housing. From 2001 to 2021, the number of people in housing stress (with at least 30 points under the Common Selection Scheme) has rocketed from 13,042 in 2002/3 to 31,407 in 2021/22. Like the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland is not building nearly enough social housing, while our waiting list for such homes only grows.
The rate of construction across other tenure types, however, isn’t so stagnant. In Belfast alone, almost 6,000 student accommodation rooms have been built since 2016, or are currently under construction. 1,850 units of purpose-built student accommodation were under active development in the city in 2022 alone. By contrast, just 922 social homes were built across the whole of Northern Ireland that same year.
While the Housing Supply Strategy sits shelved in the absence of devolved government, in 2021/22 just 7.7% of new dwelling starts were in the social sector. As a reminder - the Housing Supply Strategy’s social homes target is at least 33%.
Building more social homes will not only help people out of homelessness and inadequate, unsuitable accommodation but will also relieve pressure on the private rented sector.
Private Tenancies Act 2022
Renters’ Voice are pleased to see some positive changes brought about by the recent Private Tenancies Act. As the Bill was progressing through Stormont, we provided testimony to the Committee for Communities and formulated consultation responses. Since the Act received Royal Assent, we have been engaging with the Department for Communities on implementation of the Bill and providing feedback on draft guidance for tenants and landlords.
Sections 1 - 6 of the legislation have now been enacted. This includes:
● The provision of a new standardised Essential Tenancy Information Form to all new tenants (as well as the requirement to provide this Form to tenants whose tenancies were granted between 30 June 2011 and 30 March 2020);
● The requirement for agents and landlords to provide tenants with written receipts for payments made in cash;
● Limiting a tenant’s deposit to one month’s rent;
● More time for agents and landlords to comply with the requirements of tenancy deposit schemes (and to share deposit information with tenants); and
● Additional charges for agents and landlords who fail to comply with tenant deposit scheme requirements.
The provisions of the rest of the Act are currently being implemented and will be enacted at a future date. These include restrictions on the frequency of rent increases to once per year, improvements to fire, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, energy efficiency and electrical safety regulations, as well as possible exceptions to notice to quit periods.
Following temporary changes brought in during the pandemic, permanent changes to the period of notice required by landlords to validly end a private tenancy (‘notice to quit’) were made in May 2022. Landlords must now provide tenants with:
● 4 weeks’ notice to end a tenancy up to 12 months’ duration;
● 8 weeks’ notice to end a tenancy that has been in existence for more than 12 months but no more than 10 years; and
● 12 weeks’ notice to end a tenancy that has been in existence for more than 10 years.
The main change here to notice to quit periods applies to tenancies longer than 12 months and up to 5 years; previously, only 4 weeks’ notice was required. Under the new legislation, 8 weeks’ notice is now required.
These are positive changes that will grant some important additional protections for tenants. However, the Communities Minister repeatedly told the Assembly that this piece of legislation was only the “first stage” in addressing issues in the sector and promised additional future reform of the PRS. Without a Minister to take this work forward, tenants are left waiting for more ambitious action.
Rent control
Other MLAs felt that the Act could have been more ambitious in tackling affordability in the first instance. People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll tabled an amendment to the Private Tenancies Bill that sought to:
● reduce rents by 10% for one year for all tenancies longer than six months; and
● Implement a rent freeze for three years.
The amendment was passed during the Bill’s consideration stage in February 2022, despite a warning from Minister Hargey that such controls would place the Bill outside of legislative competence. A month later, MLAs then u-turned and voted against the amendment.
Instead, the legislation was amended to give the Department for Communities the power to freeze rents and/or reduce them by up to 10% for a period of up to four years.
The Department then commissioned the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) to research the potential impact of this form of rent control. CIH published its subsequent report in October 2022. The report authors concluded that harder forms of rent control tend to create systems with “negligible impact, complicated and unclear outcomes, or at worst undesired effects”. CIH concedes that specific groups of tenants are struggling financially, including single people and childless couples in receipt of Universal Credit, single earner households with children and households with three or more children. However, the authors warn against rent control measures due to the potential detrimental impact on the supply of homes in the PRS. Between 41% and 60% of landlords surveyed told CIH that they would seek to exit the private rental market. A simpler and accurately targeted way to improve housing affordability, the report authors argue, is by strengthening social security.
Nevertheless, rent control remains on the political agenda. Last month, Sinn Féin and DUP councillors at Belfast City Council blocked a proposal by People Before Profit to devolve rent controls to local council level. Renters’ Voice believe there is significant demand amongst tenants for some form of market control in the PRS, meaning that the concept warrants further consideration and a more nuanced public debate. In our survey, we asked private renters what would immediately help them most during this cost of living crisis. In 2022, 62% of respondents wanted to see some form of government rent control, including but not limited to rent caps, freezes or reductions. When we re-ran the survey in 2023, demand for government rent control grew to 69%.
The second most popular form of support in both 2022 and 2023 was the introduction of further government schemes or vouchers to help with energy costs. However, respondents highlighted that any immediate actions must also be complemented with longer-term support. As one tenant put it, “I don’t believe voucher or 1 off payments are supportive in getting people onto a better footing. We need long term support through social security and support for excess rent.” A stronger social security system rooted in dignity and respect for human rights should not be seen as an alternative to rent controls. During this cost of living crisis, long-term and meaningful support for private renters - and for everyone, regardless of tenure - will involve a mix of complementary interventions to maximise impact.
We know that research on the effectiveness of rent control in the UK is minimal and inconclusive, and extrapolating from international evidence is complicated for multiple reasons. However, tenant campaign groups and unions can and should try to reframe the public narrative around rent control.
Busting some common rent control myths is a good first step. Instead of allowing any and all conversations on rent regulation to be dominated by a false ‘control vs supply’ dichotomy, we can highlight possible solutions, including the development of mitigations to support a gradual introduction of controls. We also need to talk about possible incentives for landlords to invest in repairs and improvements under systems of rent regulation (and to encourage more landlords to take advantage of government assistance with improvement schemes).
Importantly, we need to accurately assess whether rent control is truly likely to incentivise landlords to sell up and leave the PRS, as is often claimed. To do this, we require a much deeper understanding of the behaviour and motivations of landlords - especially those who are described as ‘small scale’. A NI Housing Executive survey of 1,719 landlords found that 76% let out only one or two properties. However, the same survey also found that just 37% of private landlords relied on rental income to cover mortgage repayments for their rental property/properties. This challenges the idea that small scale or non-corporate landlords will generally only raise rents in order to cover their rising costs.
In conclusion, more nuance is needed in the public discussion about rent controls. We should clearly articulate the message that not all systems of rent regulation are equal, and that the success of such systems will be highly context-dependent.
We know that rent control is not a panacea; the construction of more social housing is desperately needed in Northern Ireland, as well as social security reform – perhaps in the form of a new regional mitigations package – and a functioning, decision-making Executive to set strategic priorities. However, given the enduring popularity (and controversy) of the concept of rent control during this cost of living crisis, tenant organisations must engage seriously with the public debate and advocate for further research.
Renter’s Voice is looking for other private tenants to raise their voice and campaign for meaningful change in the private rented sector. To find out information or to join the group, please contact rentersvoice@housingrights.org.uk.
Events and News
If you are interested in tenant politics this CATU event is not to be missed, featuring some influential international academic/activists, like Neil Gray and Melissa Garcia Lamarca. On April 25th John Bisset will talk about his new book It's Not Where You Live, It's How You Live : Class and Gender Struggles in a Dublin Estate. A reminder that I’ll be speaking (with a number other, better, speakers) at an event entitled Thinking about Home: Alternative Perspectives on the Housing Crisis in Ireland, 5:30 - 7:30 pm, Tuesday 25th April at the Museum of Literature Ireland. Threshold and Alone will be launching new research under the title Double Deficit: Older and Ageing Persons in the Irish Private Rental Sector, which will take place on the afternoon of Thursday, May 11th (exact time to be confirmed). This will be a hybrid event with the in-person portion taking place at the Chartered Accountants House, 47- 49 Pearse St, Dublin 2, D02 YN40, Ireland.
What I’m Reading
Kathleen Strokes has a great new piece on vacancy and rehabilitation, and the Housing Agency have released a new data insights series on women and housing. While it hasn’t been published just yet, I’m very much looking forward to getting my hands on this new Sociology of Housing volume.