Today in politics: MoJ data, benefits, rent changes and safety data

In our politics update today, we look at new figures from RICS and the Ministry of Justice along with reports from the Resolution Foundation and MHCLG

MoJ possessions data

The Ministry of Justice has published the latest landlord and mortgage possession statistics covering the period April-June 2020.

Given the stay on possession cases during this period, the data is unlikely to be representative of general trends in possession actions and the MoJ warns that “caution should therefore be used when interpreting and applying these figures.”

That said, the figures show that:

• The number of landlord possession actions for all court stages has decreased to its lowest point in the series, down at least 89% in comparison to the same quarter of last year
• As a result of coronavirus and associated actions, all landlord possession actions have dropped significantly. Compared to the same quarter the previous year, landlord possession actions; claims (3,022), orders for possession (658) and warrants (268) have decreased by 89%, 97%, and 98% respectively. No repossessions have been recorded this quarter.
• In April to June 2020, a minority (27% or 823) of all landlord possession claims were social landlord claims, and 29% (882) were accelerated claims. The group making up the largest proportion of landlord claims (44% or 1,317) were private landlord claims.
• This is in contrast to previous quarters, for example in April to June 2019, the majority (58% or 15,581) of all landlord possession claims were social landlord claims, and accelerated claims and private landlord claims made up just 19% and 23% of all landlord claims respectively.
• The fall in claim and orders volumes is observed across all geographical regions. As in previous quarters, a concentration of claims was seen in London, with 1,232 landlord claims and 255 landlord orders at London courts in April to June 2020, accounting for 41% and 39% of all landlord possession claims and orders respectively. Despite this, in London there was still a decrease of 82% (from 6,721) for landlord claims and a decrease of 95% for landlord orders (from 4,817 in April to June 2019).
• The 98% decrease in landlord warrants in April to June 2020, when compared to April to June 2019 was again accompanied by large decreases across all regions. The largest regional number of warrants (120) was again found in London, with this making up 45% of all landlord warrants. Despite this, there was a decrease of 97% for landlord warrants in London (from 3,700 in April to June 2019 to 120 in April to June 2020).

New figures show 6% of councils spent all DHP allowance

The Department for Work and Pensions has published an analysis of local authorities' use of Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) funds, based on end-of-year monitoring and financial returns.

Details can be accessed here.

Of note:

• In 2019 to 2020, central government contributed £139.5 million to Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) funding in England and Wales.

Of the local authorities (LAs) who submitted returns:

• 41% spent more than their central government allocation of Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) funding, which means they topped up their allocation with their own funding
• 6% spent 100% of their allocation
• 52% spent less than their allocation, although many of these spent most of their allocation (only 12% of LAs spent less than 90% of their allocation)
• 98% of the total central government allocation was spent

RICs predicts 1% rent rise nationwide – with 1% drop in London

RICS has published its latest Residential Market Survey for July.

Of note, it says: “In the lettings market, respondents noted a firm recovery in tenant demand over the three months to July (seasonally adjusted quarterly time series), posting a net balance of +35%. This denotes a sharp rebound compared to the reading of -44% returned in the previous quarter.

“With regards to new landlord instructions, a net balance of +6% of respondents reported a pick-up over the survey period. Although only marginally positive, this is the first occasion since 2016 in which the flow of landlord instructions has reportedly improved.

“Rental growth expectations for the next three months also recovered during July, with the net balance picking up to +20% from -35% previously.

“For the coming twelve months, contributors continue to project rents will rise by just over 1% at the national level. That said, while rents are expected to rise across virtually all parts of the UK over the year ahead, London stands out as the only region in which projections are still negative, at -1%.”

Quarter of renters spending their savings

The Resolution Foundation has published its latest housing outlook for Q3 2020.

Of note: It says that during lockdown, some working-age adults have been able to increase their savings - close to one quarter of those living in another’s home for example.

It goes on to warn however that at the same time: “a significant share of the non-owning population has had to cut saving to cope during the pandemic, with just shy of one quarter of private renters reporting this to be the case.”

It goes on to say: “Those who will be most able to benefit from lower house prices are those who already held significant savings. This is a small group, however: according to the Family Resources Survey, more than half of private renters aged between 25 and 34 years had no savings in 2018-19, for example, and a further 18 per cent held less than £3,000.”

MHCLG publishes building safety data

MHCLG has published the latest Building Safety Programme monthly data release covering the month to 31st July. It says:

Remediation works to remove and replace unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding systems have either completed or started on 323 high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings in England (71% of all identified buildings) – an increase of 10 since the end of June.

• 215 buildings (47% of all identified buildings) no longer have ACM cladding systems in place – an increase of six since the end of June. 158 of these (34% of all buildings) have fully completed remediation – no change since the end of June.
• 94% (145) of social sector buildings have either completed or started remediation. 78 of the 155 (over 50%) social sector buildings have now completed remediation, with 72% in total having removed the ACM cladding.
• 51% (107) of private sector buildings have either completed or started remediation. Of these, 44 have had their ACM cladding removed.
• 243 high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings still carry ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations in England. Of these, 108 buildings have started remediation.