Join this session for a lively discussion about current research into compliance, licensing and regulation, and safety in the home. The full abstracts are below.
Presentations from these authors and a live Q&A session are available to all HSA members. Book here
1. Henry Dawson, David Wasley and Mel Jones How local authority licensing schemes address the needs and issues of private rental sector stakeholders in England and Wales
The private rental housing sector is becoming a lifetime tenure for an increasing percentage of its occupiers. English and Welsh governments are taking an increasingly interventionist approach in the private rental sector, with an emphasis on protecting the interests of tenants. The range of new regulations produced to protect tenants has resulted in a fragmented and complex system of legislation governing the sector. Local authority private rental sector licensing schemes address many of the needs and issues of stakeholders in the private rental sector. Private rental sector markets vary geographically across England and Wales. Licensing schemes permit an enforcement approach that is tailored to local markets. Schemes use partnership working to address property conditions and landlord/tenant behaviour, incorporating some of the elements of area renewal. At the same time these schemes are controversial. They are seen as being expensive and their effectiveness has been brought into question. This presentation will summarise the findings of a study on these schemes across both England and Wales, focusing on their delivery and how they can address housing related issues at a community level.
2. Alex Marsh, David Cowan and Jennifer Harris Compliance and enforcement practices in the UK private rented sector
Over the last decade regulatory policy towards the PRS has been changing in response to ongoing problems of poor property standards and inadequate management. Policy across the UK jurisdictions has been moving in similar directions - increasingly interventionist - but at different speeds. Wales and Scotland have embraced national systems of landlord registration and licensing, whereas England continues with a more targeted, risk-based approach focusing on problem neighbourhoods and problematic subsectors. Local authorities are the key regulatory agency, but we have little systematic evidence regarding how enforcement and compliance activities operate in practice. We know little about how regulatory bodies are managing increasing demands at a time when resources are under unprecedented pressure. This paper draws on a qualitative research project that explored compliance and enforcement practices at local level. The paper examines the extent to which regulatory activities are governed by explicit strategies; are decentred and multisectoral; and have identified effective combinations of the various regulatory tools available. It also reflects upon the intersection of more activist national policy and local priorities and enforcement activities: are more extensive national systems of registration and licensing an effective and sufficient mechanism for dealing with private rented sector problems or is continued local action also required? The study highlights not only the importance of regulatory actions being shaped by local housing market context but also the role played by the agency and entrepreneurship of key actors and by local political and public leadership in sustaining sometimes contested regulatory practices.
3. Tom Simcock ‘The Single Front Door’: Fire & Rescue Services and safety in the home
The last twenty years have seen the UK Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) undergo transformational change. One strategic change has been the shift between response to prevention ushered in by the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, which imposed new prevention and community safety duties on FRS. This paper examines the work of one particular UK FRS, which building upon their delivery of Home Safety Assessments (HSAs) to residents, this FRS has engaged in greater partnership working and evolved their HSAs to focus on wider community safety. This paper draws on qualitative interviews and focus groups with employees of this UK FRS and a quantitative survey of residents who had received an HSA to examine the implementation and outcomes of these changes. This paper identifies a number of themes including how the FRS is improving public service delivery in the context of austerity through a ‘single front door’. Finally, this paper considers opportunities for future developments and innovations in how the UK FRS could widen its remit to address other areas of safety in the home.