Terms & Conditions

[barryb]

Can someone clarify something for me? How do the decisions of the regulator regarding My Space and Larch/National Community Homes affect the decisions we make regarding their exempt status and/or whether they are charging an unreasonably high rent?

I understand that there are rules regarding how landlords can set their rents which can be affected by the regulator de-registering them as a social landlord and/or deciding that they don’t fulfil the criteria of providing Specialist Supported Accommodation.

However, isn’t that separate from our decision as to whether the rent set is unreasonably high? I had assumed that it was bizarre but true that a landlord could in theory charge a rent too high for the Regulator’s liking but providing they could demonstrate how the rent was calculated (usually based on the long-lease model that I am sure we are all familiar with) we’d have a hard time arguing that the rent was unreasonably high compared to other landlords charging similar rent under the same business model.

We have a few landlords charging very high rents who claim to provide Specialist Supported Accommodation and I guess they use that to justify the rents to the Regulator and/or LA. However, is there actually a register that we can look up to see if the landlord is actually recognised by the Regulator a fulfilling this criteria?

So far i’ve kind of taken it on trust that they are if that is what they have declared, despite some doubts.

Thanks

Barry