The Week in Housing: New out-of-area placements research, overseas building liability case and fresh call for rent controls

The current Right to Buy reforms will exempt new build social homes from the policy for 35 years. The minimum eligibility period has jumped from three to 10 years before tenants can apply to buy their home.

The government will also change discount rules to start at 5% of the property’s value, with a cap of 15%.

There was some good news as rough sleeping in London has fallen for the first time in a year outside the pandemic era since 2017.

Ofsted revealed new plans to crack down on the “scourge” of unregistered children’s housing providers, through criminal investigations and prosecution, in an attempt to stop unsafe and unlawful placements.

Alongside Inside Housing’s June 2026 building safety round-up, there was a significant High Court ruling that is worth reading for those working in this part of the sector.

The German parent of a defunct UK cladding firm was ordered to pay out £1.8m following what is believed to be the first overseas Building Liability Order made under the Building Safety Act 2022.

Concern was raised that new fire safety regulations could make smaller homes “unviable” for solar panels.

And a Labour-linked thinktank is urging the government to scrap second staircase requirements in buildings below 30 metres as it is claimed this could unlock 10,000 homes per year.

Meanwhile, the number of social housing blocks with unsafe cladding that are not due to be remediated for at least a decade has increased by 18% in the past three months.

On the development front there was a mixed picture across the UK.

Annual starts and completions in Scotland have fallen, but the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations believes the social housing sector is showing “green shoots of recovery”.

Meanwhile, a new report found that wastewater capacity problems are holding back an estimated 55,000 homes in Northern Ireland.

The Welsh government allocated an additional £20m of funding for the delivery of new social homes in this year’s Budget.

In England, London Assembly members warned that new towns in the capital need extra funding from government if they are to be a success.

This came after a senior official confirmed that affordable housing for the government’s proposed new towns will be funded through its Social and Affordable Homes Programme.

A coalition of national housing organisations and campaigners called on the next prime minister to introduce rent controls, adding its weight to a growing chorus of thinktanks and Labour figures backing the policy.

However, a new report by a cross-party group of MPs said rent controls “would not be a proportionate step at this stage”, stating that the government’s “immediate priority must be to ensure the protections that are in place against above-market rent increases through the First-tier Tribunal are functioning effectively”.

In regulation news, a subsidiary of Rent to Buy provider Rentplus UK entered administration after facing financial challenges.

In the Housing Ombudsman’s latest severe maladministration report, it highlighted a case of a child who had water running down their bedroom wall for two years.

The watchdog also warned how new operating models following mergers can lead to “organisational stretch” and therefore “undermine” their benefits.

In Wales, a housing association’s financial viability grading was downgraded from green to yellow, however it retained its top governance grade.

Our latest Board Member Briefing looked at why rising tenant complaints aren’t just a problem for the executive, and why board members should be scrutinising them, too.

The government’s new Defence Investment Plan revealed that families living in military homes across the UK that need the most improvements will wait four years for government-funded work to start.

This came after a new report criticised the Ministry of Defence’s “disastrous” deal, which saw it sell and buy back thousands of military homes from a private equity firm, and has cost the taxpayer billions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) use in the sector continues to ramp up as a university and two councils revealed they are developing an AI tool that predicts safety issues in social housing before they occur.

As part of its new corporate strategy, Sovereign Network Group has cut its 10-year development target by 10% as its new plan focuses on improving repairs and customer services using AI.

There was big merger news as two landlords revealed they are in talks to form a 73,000-home landlord with 142,000 residents across the South and South West of England.

The boss of SettleParadigm is stepping down less than a year after the 30,000-home landlord was created from a merger.

In what could be a significant ruling for the use of heat networks, council tenants have been told they can challenge “unfair” charges for heating and hot water, which saw bills for some families hiked by up to 350%.

In an insight article this week, Inside Housing found out what a regeneration site in Bristol has to do with England’s rugby captain Maro Itoje.

Have a good weekend.

Stephen Delahunty, news editor, Inside Housing

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