24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
We weren't given the opportunity to do so, basically. So, we weren't asked to pick and choose which bits of the Bill we'd like to have applied to us. An offer was made to us to be involved in the no-benefits-claimants and no-children exclusions, and so we've…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
And I understand that, in England, the right to refer already exists, but the private landlords are not subject to it, and I'm told by the officials—I don't know which one of you knows more about this—that the Scottish proposals aren't proposing to subject…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
So, we haven't included a proposal for private landlords to be placed under a duty to refer. The duty to refer is for bodies and organisations; it's not proposed as a duty that applies to an individual profession or a private citizen, which is what landlords…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
It's the classic dilemma: we want to build as many permanent houses as we can, but we've got problems with building the permanent houses in some parts of Wales. Committee will be very familiar with some of those, such as the phosphate difficulties that we've…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
The expressions of interest we've had are way over the budget that we've got. So, it's clearly a very popular programme and people want to be part of it. So, we're just in the process of working with the sector on that. Sarah, do you want to add to that?
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
Yes. So, we're just running into the second year of the programme. We've been doing some analysis of the first year schemes and their effectiveness, and so on. We've asked for an expression of interest to gauge appetite for the schemes, and that exceeded the…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
I can tell you anecdotally that I've been contacted by a number of landlords concerned for their tenant who want to refer them on to services. I think a very large number of the landlords in Wales are actually perfectly lovely people who are trying to provide…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
Housing support grant is tenure neutral. It's provided to everyone who needs it regardless of their tenure and it's available to all individuals at risk of homelessness regardless of where they are—whether they're in the PRS or anywhere else. The whole…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
LTT is in Rebecca’s portfolio, not mine, but, obviously, I have long conversations with her about it all the time. There are three sets of rates—I’m sure the committee knows this already: the main residential rate, the higher residential rate for additional…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
We think that that wasn’t used very much at all—very rarely. We had about six applications a year, so it was not very effective, really. And the applications could only be made where the tenancy agreement did not include a rent increase term. So, all new…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
It hasn’t really worked in Scotland, I’m afraid. We’ve got some evidence, although it’s early days for them, to be fair, so we’ll want to monitor that for a longer time period. But, so far, the evidence is that it’s not having the desired effect. It is one of…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
We put a Green Paper out earlier in the year, a call for evidence on both the right to adequate housing and rent control policies, which is what you're talking about there. That will be followed by a White Paper in the summer—is that what we're saying—of this…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
You too.
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
Well, 'no' is the answer to that, but we've been working with them to make sure that that opportunity is there. One of the things the homelessness Bill is going to do, and this is why we're doing the homelessness Bill, is—. The way that the allocations policy…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
We already enable that. I have to say, I've got three examples in my own patch where a family has approached us for help, and I've actually managed to get the local authority or a local RSL to buy with them in situ. We say that all the time, Shelter gives…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
I mean, it's certainly something we could look at. I am very keen to make sure that the Act embeds properly. We don't yet have all of the stats; it just hasn't been in place long enough, really. So, in Wales, tenants have the most protection from eviction of…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
A year. Is it a year? There's a long period of time in which they are then prohibited from evicting the tenant because they've indulged in this practice, so it's pretty draconic. So, we just need to get the tenants to understand their rights enough to enforce…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
I'm really happy to explore things like a property MOT and stuff, but, for us, it's always about whether that—. Does that add sufficient clarity for the tenant, and is it enforceable? So, this point that has been made to me today about, 'Does the tenant feel…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
Yes. So, the renting homes Act includes all of the things that you'd expect as fit for human habitation. So, they have to have electrical certificates, carbon monoxide, water quality—you know, all of that stuff. So, it's all of the stuff. I mean, it isn't…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
Well, I mean, we sort of do that. They have to comply with the renting homes Act. Effectively, when you go through the training to become a landlord on Rent Smart Wales, you are effectively doing that; you are saying, 'I have done the training, I understand…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
And also, part of the WHQS—it's what we did for the first iteration of it as well—it's an economic development opportunity too. So, we overskill the workforce, making a market for the private rented sector and for homes in private ownership. Because…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
So, we're very keen to make sure that tenants can take advantage of any of the schemes that we have—the Warm Homes scheme, for example—and we advertise that to both landlords and tenants. The Warm Homes scheme improves the energy efficiency of the home, so…
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
Yes.
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
So, we've got the stats on the number of landlords, but also the number of properties, and that's an interesting correlation as well.
24 Ebrill 2024 , Local Government and Housing Committee
Y sector rhentu preifat: Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Lywodraeth Leol, Tai a Chynllunio
Well, yes, a bit, but not as much as you'd expect. The figures are quite interesting, aren't they?
