A Private Members' Bill, sponsored by Bob Blackman MP, to regulate private rented sector provision of supported housing to vulnerable tenants is to have its second reading in the House of Commons this week (18th November).

The bill will still need to progress through further House of Commons stages before going to the House of Lords and then on to gaining Royal Assent but the Secretary of State at DLUHC, Michael Gove MP, has said "I will be working closely with Bob Blackman MP on his Private Members' Bill to deliver tough new laws to end this practice [exploitation of vulnerable tenants by rogue private landlords] once and for all".

Michael Gove made his comments as he announced £20 million of Government funding help for local authorities "to crack down on landlords who profit through benefit claims but fail to support their vulnerable tenants residents." The funding pot will enable councils to increase compliance inspections of housing standards in PRS supported housing as well as carry out "enhanced scrutiny" of relevant housing benefit claims in relation to such properties where the landlord often receives enhanced payments in return for the support they are supposed to provide to vulnerable tenants. A cohort of those landlords take the money but provide little to no tenant support in return. Mr Gove added "Time's up for [those] rogue landlords".

Meanwhile, Mr Blackman's bill sets out a licensing regime akin to selective licensing schemes or mandatory HMO licensing schemes and underpinned by a set of "National Supported Housing Standards" covering both the type and quality of supported housing as well as the standards of the "provision of care, support or supervision ... " in such private rented supported housing.

Local authorities will be required to carry out reviews of the PRS supported housing in their areas and then to publish supported housing strategies based on the results of those reviews. PRS landlords providing supported accommodation will be required to apply for a licence to operate and comply with the licence conditions set under a local authority's supported housing licensing designation.

A copy of the bill can be accessed here: Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Bill

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