Terms & Conditions

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The Government emphasised rent ceiling will in no way relieve landlords of their responsibility to ensure that residents are safe in their homes, including complying with statutory health and safety obligations.

But where a provider is no longer able to meet these requirements, “or where complying with the revised Rent Standard would jeopardise a Registered Provider’s financial viability”, landlords can still apply for an exemption (or the disapplication of the revised Rent Standard), as per the processes under the current Rent Standard, the Government stated.

Supported housing will be exempted from the 7% rent ceiling due to the tighter operating margins, the Government said.

Responding to the policy, the National Housing Federation (NHF), which represents housing associations that house approximately six million people across England, said the Government’s response considered all of the points that the NHF raised in its submission to the consultation.

“For example, the government understood that in most cases, housing associations would not have elected to raise rents by the permitted CPI+1%, even without government action,” a NHF spokesperson noted.

The NHF added: “[The Government] is also keenly aware that holding rent increases below CPI+1% will mean housing associations are able to raise less rental income than they otherwise would, impacting their ongoing investment in existing and new homes.”

Alongside its response to the consultation, the Government has issued a final direction to the Regulator of Social Housing, requiring the regulator to set the new standard from 1 April 2023.