October 2014

Carmel Ferguson, Solicitor with Housing Rights Service discusses the possibility of using estoppel as a defence in possession proceedings. 

A recent query on our advice line raised the question of whether the principle of estoppel could be used as a defence to certain possession proceedings in the private sector.

The Department for Social Development has published the Northern Ireland Housing Statistics for 2013/14. These can be downloaded from the DSD website.

Housing Rights Service played host to the Committee for Social Development today.  During the meeting, Dr Heloise Brown and Paul Price from the Department of Social Development (DSD) summarised public responses to recent proposals to reform the allocation system for social housing and answered members' questions on this issue. 

The DUP has proposed a new fund to help those transitioning from Disability Living Allowance on to the new Personal Independence Payment.  

First Minister Peter Robinson has put the party’s proposals to Secretary of State Teresa Villiers.   Mr Robinson believes that these measures will mean many of the most vulnerable people in Northern Ireland will “come out of the transfer to PIP with the same level of payments or better off."

The All Party Parliamentary Group for the Private Rented Sector has published a report, funded by the Residential Landlords Association, which recommends a full review into the operation of the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR).  

Limitations of shared housing

The report contains a number of interesting findings;

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on a range of measures to reform its private tenancy system.  The consultation exercise has been driven by recent changes to the private rented sector in Scotland, where this tenure now accounts for more than 330,000 households.  Since 1999, there has been an increase in the amount of private accommodation rented to families and to those seeking a long term home. 

The Conservative Party Conference has just finished with a headline housing pledge that, if re-elected, they will provide further help to get first-time buyers onto the property market in England.