New bill targets domestic abusers and overhauls right to buy in England | Housing
Social housing landlords will be able to evict perpetrators of domestic abuse under a new bill that will also increase the tenancy period required for residents to qualify for the right to buy scheme in England from three to 10 years.
The government said the bill, which will be debated in the House of Lords on Monday, would fix the “long-term decline in social housing” and offer new protections for social tenants experiencing domestic abuse.
Its progress in parliament has been welcomed by domestic abuse campaigners such as the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance, who say it represents a “significant and overdue step forward”. The bill returns to parliament for a second reading after being introduced in King Charles’ speech on 13 May.
Nearly 15,000 families in England had to find new social housing due to domestic violence last year, according to the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The bill aims to ensure that landlords and courts can evict perpetrators of domestic abuse from social housing without the victim having to leave their home first.
Currently, social housing landlords can only evict an offender after their victim has moved out, and in joint tenancies the only option for the victim is to end the tenancy altogether and possibly become homeless.
If the bill is passed for a second time and receives royal assent, social landlords will be able to evict abusers from their properties and courts will be able to transfer joint tenancies into the victim’s sole name or require the landlord to provide suitable alternative accommodation where appropriate.
The bill also closes a legal loophole that allowed domestic abusers to end social housing joint tenancies early during their own eviction proceedings, leaving their victims homeless.
The right to buy a social home after just three years of working as a tenant of a public sector landlord, a policy of Margaret Thatcher’s government, is also being overhauled. Under the new rules, social housing tenants will have to wait 10 years, instead of three, to be able to buy their homes from the council or housing association.
The government said that if the bill becomes law, newly built social homes will be protected for 35 years and “rural homes that are difficult to replace” will be exempt.
Councils will also have a stronger right of first refusal to buy back properties to help public sector homeowners regain homes they have already lost under the right to buy.
The government also said the bill would remove “outdated and unimplemented requirements” from the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to give social housing providers “the certainty they need to build for the long term”. This includes rules requiring councils to sell high-value homes, offer fixed-term tenancies and charge higher rents to higher-income tenants.
Writing for the Guardian, Keir Starmer said: “Families were left in limbo on waiting lists for years… and, incredibly, survivors of domestic violence found themselves forced to be evicted from their homes because their landlords did not have the power to make the abuser the go-to person.
“None of this is right or fair, because of underfunding, systemic failure and building shortages, especially when it comes to social housing, so much of the stock is sold at huge discounts and never replaced.
“That’s why, when this government came to power, we promised the biggest increase in social and affordable homes for a generation… We want everyone to have a safe place of their own, whatever their background or circumstances.”
