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From the archive - concerns over HMO fire safety

Sophie Richards looks back at what was happening in the sector this week five, 15 and 25 years ago

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25 years ago

More than three people a week died in fires in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) between 1985 and 1991, according to the Campaign for Bedsit Rights.

The survey (covered in Inside Housing, below) found only one in four councils thought they could bring HMOs in their area up to standard within five years. In response, the Conservative government proposed a series of changes. At that time there were 230,000 HMOs to renovate, but the government warned the cost of doing this would be high and possibly unmanageable. One recommendation was a licensing regime for HMOs.

This was introduced, although it took another decade, in the Housing Act 2004. The licensing includes an obligatory fire risk assessment, so that in the case of a fire there are systems in place inside buildings to prevent fire deaths in HMOs.

15 years ago

At the turn of the century, social landlords had been given 10 years to bring all their homes up to the Decent Homes Standard.

But three years in, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) was warning that councils were struggling to meet the target and should be given extensions beyond 2010 to complete the work.

The Decent Homes Standard required all social housing to be brought up to a reasonable state of repair. In the hope of targets being met by 2010, the government aims were that at least 100,000 homes would transfer each year. But Sarah Webb, policy director at the CIH, said many councils would see the target as unrealistic and rather than developing sensible and sustainable strategies, they would be thrown off by the target and derail. Despite the worries, the government was keen to stick to its 2010 target and instead push the councils that it could see weren’t doing so well.

By September 2010, government statistics showed that one in four council homes still fell below the standard, and as a result the government did give extensions to some councils.

Picture: Getty

Five years ago

Five years ago, the Green Deal was seen as the flagship sustainability programme of the coalition government. But the programme was only seven months old and was running into problems, Inside Housing reported.

Under the Green Deal, households could take a low-cost loan from Green Deal providers to pay for energy efficiency works. The idea was that this would result in savings to energy bills, which would enable the loans to be paid back. However, issues surrounding tenant consent and the availability of funding meant that take-up hadn’t been as high as expected. Standard Assessment Procedure modelling overestimated savings in properties by as much as 77%. The Green Deal was scrapped in 2015 due to low take-up.

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