The Government has released guidance for social landlords on essential home moves.  Although this is not statutory guidance, it includes helpful tips on what most housing providers should be doing when it comes to residents moving home, and repairs. 

Moving home

The guidance, which can be read in full here, sets out the following recommendations on home moves:

• Providers should continue to co-operate with local authorities (including on homelessness) and homes should be allocated in accordance with the usual eligibility criteria.
• Non-essential allocations and transfers should be paused, so that people are only moving home where it is “essential” for them to do so.
• Non-essential mutual exchanges should be discouraged.
• Tenants who are self-isolating, or who are vulnerable/elderly should not move unless essential.

The guidance defines essential moves as those which:

1. support those fleeing violence, including domestic abuse;
2. prevent severe overcrowding;
3. facilitate move-on from temporary accommodation
4. facilitate discharge from hospital; and/or
5. support those in unsafe accommodation, or without settled accommodation, which poses a risk to their health.

The guidance also stresses that, where moves do take place, they must be in compliance with social distancing and other guidelines.  The guidance suggests that registered providers (RPs) may want to implement direct lets, rather than choice based lettings, where possible.

Repairs

The guidance touches upon repairs and maintenance, in particular saying that:

• non-essential maintenance work that requires residents to move out of their homes should be paused (e.g. kitchen/bathroom replacements, window replacements)
• repairs can be carried out to void properties provided those working comply with the government guidelines on going to work and social distancing in the workplace.

Conclusion

The guidance provides some helpful clarity about the steps that housing providers should be taking to protect their residents and staff, although in practice most will have been following these steps for several weeks now.

The real question for many housing providers is how organisations will be able to plan for remobilisation – particularly in the face of a growing backlog of repairs and increasing voids. We are hopeful that the lockdown release plans promised by HM Government next week will assist with this, and in the meantime many RPs are already drawing up proposals, including asking contractors to confirm their own remobilisation plans/timescales.

How Capsticks can help

Capsticks’ housing team provides a truly full-service, with particular expertise in development, corporate and securitisation, housing leasehold and asset management. We advise housing associations and local authorities on a range of matters including estate regeneration schemes, housing management and tenant engagement, commercial and financial issues, including disputes and governance advice. 

If you have any queries around what's discussed in this article, and the impact on your organisation, please speak to Susie Rogers, or any of your contacts at Capsticks, to find out more about how we can help.