Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action, if any, they will take to prevent the auctioning off of social housing.

Social landlords exist to provide homes to those whose needs cannot be met by the market. They play a vital role in helping to fix the broken housing market and increasing supply of new homes. Housing associations build the vast majority of new social homes in England each year.

It is for Local Authorities and housing associations to make effective management decisions that are in the best interests of their residents, whilst also delivering the new homes the country desperately needs. As part of this, social landlords may choose to sell some of their older, more expensive to maintain homes, helping to free up resources which could be used to invest in new, modern homes or in existing stock for their tenants.

Social landlords should provide their tenants with a written tenancy agreement at the start of their tenancy, detailing both the tenant's and the landlord’s legal rights. Social housing tenants cannot be evicted unless a court grants possession to a landlord. The court has discretion to do this if a landlord intends to carry out redevelopment or major works that could not be completed otherwise and it is satisfied that suitable alternative accommodation will be available for the tenant. Social landlords are also required by the Regulator of Social Housing to consult fully with residents who would be affected by a change in landlord or a significant change in management arrangements due to the sale of properties. Some landlords choose to offer to pay residents’ home removals costs and offer a guaranteed right of return with an equivalent tenancy once the redevelopment or major works are complete.

In the exceptional circumstances where a local authority wishes to sell tenanted homes, it must first seek permission to do so from the Secretary of State under the Housing Act 1985. Similarly, a housing association may choose to sell tenanted homes and on these occasions, sales are usually within the housing association sector with existing tenant’s rights continuing. Housing associations must notify the Regulator of Social Housing if they sell or transfer the ownership of homes and any government grant that was initially invested in the properties must be reinvested in new affordable housing.