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When everyone has a home

028 9024 5640: Housing & Debt Helpline for Northern Ireland

Social Tenancies

Antisocial behaviour doesn't have to result in eviction

27 July 2016

Incidents of antisocial behaviour are on a spectrum; they can range from occurrences of excessive noise, right through to serious criminal behaviour. It can affect everyone in a community. When behaviour is persistent and wilful, the right remedies should be used to address the problem.

There are also cases of antisocial behaviour that arise through misunderstandings, where the behaviour may be connected to mental health and/or disability issues.

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Regulation, Social Tenancies

ADVISER: Rent rebate for private tenant

27 July 2016

Our adviser Severina recently helped a client claim a huge overpayment of rent back from an estate agent.  The client, Lesley, had overpaid her rent account by a sizeable amount during the three years she had lived in her private tenancy.  It can be difficult to reconcile the amount of rent owed with the amount of money paid towards rent.  For this reason, it’s vitally important that tenants keep accurate accounts of all payments they make and get and keep receipts for any cash payments made

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Benefits, Social Tenancies, Private Tenancies, Adviser

ADVISER: Housing benefit backdate clears tenant arrears

30 June 2016

Stephen’s client, Esther, is a Housing Executive tenant who had previously fallen into rent arrears.  Esther said she’d been too embarrassed to talk to someone when she first fell into arrears and hadn’t gone to court when the Housing Executive had applied for a possession order.  In her absence, the judge granted a Possession Order with a stay.  This meant that Esther could continue to live in her home as long as she kept to the terms of the order, which were made by the judge in court.  Thi

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Benefits, Social Tenancies, Practical tips, Affordability, Adviser

Mapping Foreign Nationals Living in Northern Ireland

28 June 2016

The Housing Executive has recently released their ‘Mapping Foreign Nationals Living in Northern Ireland’ report. Estimating the number of foreign nationals living in Northern Ireland can be difficult. But this report uses information from the Census 2011, information gathered from the NIHE local offices and other key reports.

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Minority Groups, Research, Social Tenancies, Private Tenancies

Housing Rights response to fitness consultation June 2016

Consultation Response
June 2016

Housing Rights believes  that the current fitness standard applied to housing in Northern Ireland is unsatisfactory and needs replaced in its entirety. It is insufficient to make amendments to the standard which do not directly link housing with health. We believe that an internationally recognised system of best practice currently exists in the Housing Health and Safety Rating System  and that the introduction of HHSRS would not only benefit householders and tenants across all tenures, but would be of particular benefit in addressing the problems facing some Section 75 groups.

This consultation response explains why Housing Rights believes that the HHSRS is the best option for making real improvements to the quality of housing and will tackle inequalities faced by those persons in Northern Ireland who are most at risk of poor housing.

PDF icon HousingRights_fitness_review_response_June2016-1.pdf

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Fitness, Social Tenancies, Private Tenancies, Policy

Housing Rights of Syrian refugees

4 May 2016

A second group of Syrian refugees have arrived in Northern Ireland. These individuals and families are being relocated in Northern Ireland in accordance with the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme 2015.

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Benefits, Minority Groups, Social Tenancies, Private Tenancies

Helm and Fold housing associations to merge

4 May 2016

Helm Housing Association and Fold Housing have announced plans to merge.  If approved, the merger will take effect in 2017 and will see the formation of a new organisation This new association will become the largest housing association in Northern Ireland with a stock of 12,000 homes and a staff of over 1,000 individuals. 

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Social Tenancies

Landlord Liability for defective premises judgment

25 April 2016

A recent Northern Ireland Court of Appeal judgment, Argue V Northern Ireland Housing Executive Neutral [2016] NICA 18 (5 April 2016)  considers the provisions of the Defective Premises (Landlord's Liability) Act (Northern Ireland) 2001.

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Social Tenancies, Private Tenancies, Case law, Landlord, Legal

Housing Rights responds to consultation on Housing Adaptations

20 April 2016

Housing Rights has recently responded to an Inter-Departmental Review of Housing Adaptations Services, carried out by the Department for Social Development and the Department of Health.

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Fitness, Social Tenancies, Policy

Delivering on Tenant Participation- conference from Housing Rights and Supporting Communities

24 February 2016

Plans to increase the level of tenant participation were recently published by the Department for Social Development. ‘A Tenant Participation Strategy for NI: 2015 to 2020’ sets out the actions that social landlords should take to give tenants the opportunity to have a say in the decisions that affect them. 

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Social Tenancies

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