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The Week in Housing: themes for 2026, building inspector fraud investigation and Awaab’s Law impact
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The Week in Housing: themes for 2026, building inspector fraud investigation and Awaab’s Law impact #UKhousingA weekly round-up of the most important headlines for housing professionals #UKhousingGood afternoon.
We kicked off the new year by sending the news team out to talk to people across the housing sector to find out what they are looking out for in 2026.
One of the first of these predictions that is likely to come to a point is rent convergence. The government’s announcement on this is due this month, and it is fair to say the sector is keen to find out what will happen and work out what the implications will be. Ahead of this announcement, London Councils renewed calls for this to be set at £3 a week.
We found out this week that the Building Safety Regulator trebled its rate of Gateway 2 decisions – although it still has not cleared as much of its backlog as hoped.
The Building Safety Regulator also referred a fraud investigation to the police involving the impersonation of building inspectors.
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The sector is still in the early days of implementing Awaab’s Law. One council in south London received 347 damp and mould cases in the first three weeks of the law coming into force. Is this an insight into the scale of change that the new rules could prompt?
The urgency of hazards posed by mould was further underlined as research found that a fifth of households that lived in damp, cold or mouldy homes said they or someone they live with had respiratory symptoms as a result.
On the development front, nutrient neutrality rules have stalled more than 2,000 affordable homes in Wales, according to Community Housing Cymru. This comes after an exemption for the sector.
And Northern Ireland has seen another fall in planning applications.
Housing association ForHousing carried out a major refinancing exercise, which it said will help deliver 1,100 new homes and boost investment in existing stock.
People interested in regeneration may find it interesting that a specialist has been appointed by Homes England to head up a new national hub.
In Westminster, the council has launched a ‘retrofit-first’ policy, which is meant to prioritise keeping older buildings rather than building new ones because of embedded carbon. The policy also requires affordable housing delivery contributions in developments of fewer than 10 homes.
Also in London, Hyde looks set to take on a small housing association that is under investigation by the English regulator.
In a further development of the story at the end of last year regarding concerns about a tenant management organisation, Lambeth Council has written to the government calling for legislation to be changed to make it easier for councils to act when residents report concerns about poor performance.
We learned that another council-owned housing company faces the chop – this time in Hastings. This is only the latest example in the trend by councils to move away from these vehicles.
Hospitals in Scotland are discharging patients to ‘no fixed abode’ once a day, a report by the Salvation Army has found.
Mark Henderson announced that he will retire later this year after nearly 18 years as chief executive of Home Group.
Finally, Wales’ largest housing association has announced its post-merger rebrand as Codi. This means ‘rise’ in Welsh, which the landlord said relates to its “deep-rooted Welsh identity and its desire to rise to meet customers’ expectations”.
Jess McCabe, deputy editor, Inside Housing
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