When we first asked this not so rhetorical question* we touched on the partnership work that many councils are now successfully doing within communities and across organisations to get better outcomes for residents. But we also thought that councils needed to do more to bring private rented sector landlords on board - persuading them to get with the programme so to speak.

The housing charity Shelter has responded to the latest Govt data on homelessness in England which shows that between January and March 2022 74,230 households became homeless or were threatened with homelessness including over 25,000 families with children. This represents a 5% increase on the same period in 2021.

DLUHC has announced that Birmingham, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool and Hull councils will get £6 million from the Govt's £20 million supported housing improvement programme to carry out enforcement of better standards in supported housing provided by the private sector for vulnerable tenants.

The headline in The Guardian is stark - "Renters 'at mercy of landlords' over £400 energy rebate" but the possibility of a cohort of private rented sector landlords being happy to make a profit out of a rebate meant to help struggling households is clearly enough for charities to raise their concerns.

The chartered institute of environmental health has expressed disappointment that "the UK government have missed yet another opportunity to prioritise energy efficiency measures as a means of supporting households with their energy bills.".

The Dept for Levelling up, Housing & Communities has published guidance for private rented sector landlords and their tenants on the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm (amendment) regulations 2022 which come into force on October 1st this year.

The court of appeal has ruled in the case of Kowalek & Anor v Hassanein Ltd that rent paid (rather than rent accrued) whilst a licensing offence wasn't being committed can't be taken into account when calculating the maximum amount of a rent repayment order (RRO) and that rent arrears can be taken into account when making that calculation.

In an illegal eviction case before Liverpool Crown Court a judge has said its "a feature of anyone's moral compass that they could not simply throw a tenant out onto the street simply because they had a need to use the property.".

On 6th July we reported on the case of Northumberland Mews Ltd V Thanet District Council where a landlord was appealing against the imposition, by the council, of 5 separate civil penalties for failure to licence 5 flats in a block of flats and where the landlord argued there should just have been 1 civil penalty imposed because it was the whole block that was the Part 3 house under the 2004 Housing Act.

However you phrase it - “social value”, “place making”, “safer streets”, “stronger communities” “regeneration”, “levelling up” or simply the more transactional “bang per buck” - the destination is the same ….. better outcomes for residents.