Regulator to freeze fees for RPs next year due to COVID-19

News15.12.204.20 PM by Jack Simpson

England’s Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has confirmed that it will not raise the fees registered providers have to pay it during the next financial year, citing the pressures faced by landlords due to the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the key reasons for the decision.

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.@RSHEngland has confirmed that it will not raise the fees registered providers have to pay it during the next financial year, citing COVID-19 pandemic as one of the key reasons for the decision #UKhousing

Writing to all landlords today, Richard Peden, director of finance and corporate services at the RSH, said that the regulator would be holding fees at the same level for the whole of the next financial year.

He said that this was in recognition of the above inflation fee increase put on associations last year, but also the resource pressures providers are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every year, associations with more than 1,000 homes have to pay a fee to the regulator for every home they own. If an organisation has fewer than 1,000 homes it is required to pay a flat fee of £300.

Last year, the regulator revealed that it would be increasing the fees for landlords by 15% in the 2020/21 financial year, increasing the fee per unit owned from £4.72 in 2019/20 to £5.42. The regulator said that this would have resulted in it making £14.74m from fees over the year, compared with £12.75m in 2019/20.

It said this was a result of its increased focus on market sale and the emergence of for-profit providers.

The fee for next year will not be higher than £5.37 per unit, the letter from Mr Peden said.

He added that the regulator would publish its annual fees statement once it had received confirmation of its grant in aid budget from the government, and when analysis of landlords’ statistical data returns had been carried out. This is expected in March 2020.

Housing associations have been hit hard by the pandemic. Many have experienced a rise in rent arrears and costs as a result of tenants losing jobs, business or being furloughed.

Charging associations fees was introduced by the regulator in October 2017, with the body committing to a 1% annual increase in the total paid by landlords up to the end of March 2020.

The Social Housing White Paper proposes an expansion of the RSH’s role in the coming years. The regulator is set to adopt a more proactive regulatory approach and bring consumer standards in line with the way it grades landlords on governance and financial viability.