Policy & Research

Housing Rights Service is fully supportive of the aims of this pre action protocol. It is a very positive step which we hope will encourage more pre action contact; promote the benefits of getting good independent advice; and, above all, help to avoid costly and unnecessary legal action. In our experience, tenants whose cases have ended up in court are generally unaware of the legal consequences of a court order. We are therefore wholly supportive of the Lord Chief Justice’s decision to issue a Practice Direction in cases of social housing rent arrears. As the protocol states “Eviction should always be viewed as a last resort and should only be used when all other avenues have been exhausted.”

As part of the ongoing reform of credit unions, the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) released for consultation proposals for legislative change. The proposals mirrored some of the major recent legislative developments in Britain. They included, for example, amending the rules relating to the common bond for membership, allowing credit unions to admit corporate members and considering increasing the 1% per month interest rate cap on loans.