Swap shop

Posted by: Tom Lloyd

31/10/2011

It started off as the ‘right to move’ then it was the ‘freedom pass’ now it has become ‘homeswap direct’.

If the rhetoric used for the government’s scheme to help social tenants move house sounds like it has been toned down, then perhaps that mirrors the scheme itself.

When the Conservatives were in opposition we had the ‘right to move’, under which social tenants would be able to demand their landlord sell their home and buy them one of equivalent value anywhere they wanted.

It was condemned by landlords concerned they would end up managing properties pepper potted across the UK and never saw the light of day.

Instead, once the Conservatives were in power, we got the ‘freedom pass’, a national database listing every household in social housing that wanted to move. This too was ditched.

What we have ended up with is an agreement between four commercial home swap agencies to share data, and some new directions to the social housing regulator to ensure landlords allow tenants to move.

Even this has its problems. For starters it’s a web-based system, so will tend to exclude some households, particularly the elderly.

Some of the government’s assumptions are also questionable. Are there really large numbers of tenants who are desperate to move to find employment, and if there are, are homes available in these areas?

And are the elderly – those who are internet savvy – really going to want to downsize to smaller properties? Given the hard line the government is taking on under occupation through its housing benefit reforms, it is surprising to see it expects voluntary downsizing to realise any significant gains in availability of larger homes.

As ever there are also numerous questions about how this policy interacts with other policies, most notably the reforms to social housing tenancies. The Localism Bill states tenants who wish to transfer will ‘surrender’ their existing agreement and be granted a new one by their next landlord.

How will that work? Tenants will be concerned they could be switched to a less secure agreement, and landlords will be worried about being landed with an administrative nightmare with tenants on a whole host of different contracts.

Admittedly these hurdles are as nothing compared with the problems the right to move would have created, but they are still significant, and you have to wonder if dealing with them will really deliver the kind of gains the government anticipates.