Social Tenancies

HOLD THE DATE! Thursday 12th December 2013

3 October 2013

Achieving Excellence through Tenant Involvement

Effective tenant involvement is the most important action a landlord can take. By involving tenants and listening to what they have to say, landlords can make better business decisions, create excellent services, save money, find lasting solutions to problems and encourage customer loyalty and satisfaction.

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Social Tenancies, Private Tenancies, Landlord

Preventing possession in social rented housing

25 September 2013

Nicola McCrudden is the Policy & Communications Manager at Housing Rights Service. Below she describes her recent experiences of possession hearings at Laganside county court.

Sitting in Laganside county court, Belfast, on a Thursday morning listening to a stream of possession hearings made me confident of the need for a pre-action protocol for non payment of rent in social housing.

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Repossession, Social Tenancies, Landlord, Legal

Adviser: Advising social tenants with rent arrears

23 September 2013

Here at Housing Rights Service we do a lot of work helping tenants who live in social housing deal with rent arrears and housing benefit problems. There are so many different aspects to advising someone in this situation that I thought it might be helpful to look at some of the most important elements of a rent arrears case.

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Repossession, Social Tenancies, Affordability, Adviser

Gas Safety Week 16-22 September

17 September 2013

Gas Safety Week runs from 16-22 September 2013. It aims to highlight the importance of gas safety and of keeping gas appliances in a safe working condition.

The week long campaign is co-ordinated by the Gas Safe Register and is supported by the gas industry including retailers, manufacturers, consumer bodies and the public.

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Social Tenancies, Private Tenancies, Landlord

Draft Pre-action Protocols for Social Rent Arrears Released

5 September 2013

The Lord Chief Justice believes, in cases of social housing rent arrears, it would be helpful for all parties to be aware of the steps that the court will expect to be taken before starting court action. A draft pre-action protocol setting out these steps has been released for consultation.

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Repossession, Social Tenancies, Policy, Legal

The Cost of Poor Housing

2 September 2013

New research confirms that there is a direct link between good housing and good health.

Based on the findings of the 2009 Northern Ireland House Condition Survey, the research shows:

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Social Tenancies, Private Tenancies

Croatian Rights to Housing and Homelessness Assistance

28 August 2013

Croatia acceded to the EU on 1 July 2013. The UK has placed restrictions on the rights of Croatian nationals to access the UK labour market by setting up a Worker Authorisation Scheme. These restrictions will last until at least 30 June 2018.

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Social Tenancies, Homelessness, Legal

Social Housing in the United States

19 August 2013

Cat Song is a second-year law student from Fordham University School of Law in New York, NY. She is currently working at Housing Rights Service as a legal research intern studying comparative housing law in the different UK jurisdictions.

In her final article for Housing Rights Service, Cat explains how social housing works in the US.

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Social Tenancies, Opinion

Latest Review and Perspectives on Housing Released

14 August 2013

The Housing Executive has just launched its latest Review and Perspectives on the Northern Ireland Housing Market for 2013 – 2016. The document looks at the prospects for the local housing market against a backdrop of what is happening in the economy and population changes.