What you should know about the Housing Act
The Housing Act contains several new measures of interest to you if you live in the private rented sector or in university or college accommodation in Wales. Most of the provisions came into force in on 16th June 2006 (apart from the Tenancy Deposit Schemes). The new regulations are the following:
Housing in Multiple Occupation Licensing
Housing Health and Safety Rating System
Codes of Standards for halls of residence
Housing in Multiple Occupation Licensing
Your landlord must pay a fee to his local council to register if his property has 5 people or more, and 3 or more storeys. He will then obtain a licence for 5 years. Not registering is a criminal offence, with a fine of £20,000. Breaching conditions of the license can incur a £5,000 fine to your landlord.
We expect many student landlords will have to be licensed. Licensing is mainly about management standards, for example, your landlord must not have committed previous housing offences. The aim of this new legislation is mostly to tackle bad housing conditions in areas of high demand.
Anybody can report to the local housing authority a house that they think ought to be licensed, or report landlords to the local housing authority if they are not fulfilling the terms of the license. For example, your parents can ring the local council were you live and tell them they think your landlord ought to be licensed (only if the property has 5 or more people and 3 or more storeys).
Housing Health and Safety Rating System
New health and safety measures are now to be applied in ANY buildings. Your local authority also has new powers to force landlord to comply with these new health and safety measures. This is applicable in university halls and with private landlords.
It is very important to remember that if you think your health is in danger, you can always report your university/college or private landlord to the local housing authority. From 16th June 2006, local authority will have a DUTY to act if the health of tenants is in danger.
Too few students know they can contact the local housing authority about the health and safety standards of their accommodation. But it is their job to ensure you live in safe accommodation, so make sure you give them a ring if things go wrong and your landlord or university is not doing anything about it. The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and NUS have teamed up to create a student guide to the new system, the Home Sweet Home guide.
Codes of Standards for halls of residence
There are now new management guidelines for halls of residence in Wales (universities and colleges). These are voluntary code of standards for institutions to follow.
It is important you know what Code your institution is signed up to. If unsure, ask your students' union to support you if you have an issue with your hall of residence. Breaches of the code should ALWAYS be reported through the institution's complaints' procedure.
If you believe a university or college is behaving really badly and providing terrible accommodation to students, it is CRUCIAL you inform your local students' union about it. They will be able to help you rectify the situation.