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Homes Bill announced to parliament

The Homes Bill was introduced to parliament today, formally committing the government to the introduction of the seller's pack. The information pack is seen by many as the main thread of the Bill, but the details of the proposed legislation include a wide range of policy initiatives that have broad voter appeal and affect a variety of social groups.

Wary of excluding major voter groups in such a well heralded piece of legislation, the Bill will include measures aimed at helping homeowners, first time buyers and sellers, private tenants, social tenants and the homeless. Landlords largely miss out, but the urban white paper certainly contained some measures that are aimed at stimulating investment in inner city areas.

The measures included in the bill are as follows:

For homeowners and homebuyers:

• The introduction of a seller's pack to take the heartache out of home buying and selling in England and Wales.
• Help for more than 10,000 nurses, teachers, police and other key workers buy homes in areas where high housing costs might otherwise price them out of the communities they serve.
• Introduction of better targeted help to renovate and improve homes owned by poorer households in deprived areas.
• Improved benefit help for unemployed home-owners moving back into work.

For leaseholders:

• A commitment to the development of proposals to make it easier for leaseholders to obtain their freehold and the establishment of a new tenure - commonhold - for joint ownership of blocks of flats.
• Extended rights for leaseholders to take over the management of their homes.

For private tenants:

• The introduction of a voluntary landlord accreditation scheme, aimed at spreading good practice.
• A pilot Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
• Legislation for a national licensing scheme to raise standards of Houses in Multiple Occupation.
• Consultation about a targeted licensing scheme to tackle problems associated with bad landlords in areas of low demand.

For those in social housing:

• Confirmation of the Government's commitment to bring all social housing up to a decent standard by 2010.
• Proposals to improve the supply of social housing by doubling capital investment.
• Promotion of diversity and a wider range of landlords through stock transfer and new investment and ownership options for council housing.
• A 10 year plan to achieve fairer rents at affordable levels, well below those in the private sector, based on size, relative property values and local earnings.
• Promotion of a new approach to letting social housing designed to extend tenant choice.
• For those on Housing Benefit in England, Scotland and Wales:
• Urgent action to be taken to help councils reduce the impact of benefit delays.
• Raising administration standards and simplifying Housing Benefit.

For those at risk of homelessness:

• Councils are to be required to put in place strategies to prevent homelessness and measures to ensure more effective help and housing for those likely to lose their homes.
• The issues of rough sleeping, fuel poverty and anti-social behaviour are to be tackled.
• A new Supporting People programme is to be implemented to provide more effective support to the elderly and other vulnerable people.