The Week in Housing: social rent target set and push towards single construction regulator

He set out further reforms to Right to Buy that will see newly built social homes exempt from the scheme for 35 years, and confirmed that the Competence and Conduct Standard will come into effect in October 2026. Large housing providers will have a three-year transition period from this date.

Plus, consultations on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for the social and private sectors (to come into force no earlier than 2035) on improving the energy efficiency of social housing and on rent convergence were announced. For the latter, a £1 or £2 a week cap has been proposed, with a decision to be made during the Autumn Budget.

Two new funding programmes launched with an aim to improve resident experience and council housebuilding skills and capacity.

The sector learned that from April 2027, social landlords will have to provide tenants with access to information about the management of their homes.

It was also revealed that £2.5bn of low-interest loans announced in the Spending Review will support the delivery of new social and affordable housing.

The sector told Inside Housing that it “stands ready to deliver”. You can read more responses from the sector here.

We ran through the details in the impact assessments of all the proposals here.

Mr Pennycook ended a busy week with changes to protect leaseholders from excessive service charges and unexpected bills, as well as help with litigation costs when challenges are made against managing agents.

A House of Lords committee heard why organisational oversight of such agents may not improve the experience of residents and leaseholders waiting for, and fronting the cost of, remediation work.

Not to be outdone, deputy prime minster and housing secretary Angela Rayner promised a range of reforms to tackle bureaucracy while attending the Local Government Association conference in Liverpool. Changes include a move to combine the Levelling Up, Town Deals and Pathfinder funds into a single pot worth more than £1.5bn, affecting more than 166 councils in England.

The conference heard why councils should be top of the list for housing association disposals, and a senior figure at Legal & General said the firm is keen on council partnerships as long as they do not become the “next PFI [private finance initiative]”.

Despite all the positive funding and policy announcements, another House of Lords committee heard what was needed to address the skills gaps in the construction industry. This is a crucial gap that needs to be closed, alongside the new investment and legislative certainty the sector has been calling for.

The Housing Ombudsman confirmed its ambition to complete 95% of investigations within six months by 2030 and has a target of completing 50% of investigations within six months this year.

The Prince of Wales unveiled a pilot scheme focusing on early homelessness intervention at a school in Sheffield.

The government in Wales launched a consultation on bringing registered social landlords and Community Housing Cymru, the sector’s trade body, under the standards system for the Welsh language.

In Northern Ireland, there was a call for a review of the region’s planning system after the latest statistics revealed a “multifaceted challenge”.

In case you missed one of our many long reads this week, we asked whether student accommodation providers can shift their business to meet the needs of domestic students.

Inside Housing also caught up with people from the sector who became MPs last year for a debrief on their first 12 months, and looked at how the Duke of Westminster’s property company is using deep retrofit to turn an 18th-century London street into affordable housing.

Finally, we spoke to the yimby council leader in London who still lives with his mum about how the borough is tackling homelessness, rogue developers and nimbys.

Have a great weekend.

Stephen Delahunty, news editor, Inside Housing

Say hello: stephen.delahunty@oceanmedia.co.uk

Editor’s picks: five stories you may have missed

For-profit provider sells 134 homes to North West landlord

Homes England data reveals annual social rent starts up 43% but zero First Homes completed

BSR reforms should speed up processes, but concern remains around structure and focus

Almost £1bn invested in single-family homes in first half of 2025

North West housing association appoints chief executive