(c) Timeline of legislation, standards and case law

The following timeline lists legislation that to varying degrees has impacted on the management of CGE, the lives of residents that live there and has resulted in socio-techno-political reconfigurations.

1980 Right to Buy Housing Act
The Right to Buy scheme gave secure tenants of LA owned homes the right to purchase their home at a price lower than the full market value.

1985 Housing Act, s105
A duty to consult tenants (not leaseholders).

1990 Town and Country Planning Act
Section 106 (S106) Agreements, also known as planning obligations, are legal agreements between Local Authorities and developers pertained to planning permissions. S106 agreements are drafted when it is considered that a development will have significant impacts on the local area that cannot be moderated by means of conditions attached to a planning decision. The S106 will vary depending on the nature of the development and based on the needs of the District. The most common obligations include: Public Open Space, Affordable Housing, Education, Highways and Town centre Improvements.

1985 Section 105 of the Housing Act
LA’s are required by section 105 of the Housing Act 1985 to consult its secure tenants and is under a wider duty to do so lawfully.

1989 Local Government and Housing act, Section 76
LA’s are required by Law to avoid budgeting for a deficit on the HRA, so total HRA reserves must never fall below zero, a minimum of 5% of turn over is seen as good practice.

1994 & 2007 Construction Design and Management Regulations
To maintain a safe environment for employees, residents and contractors.

1997 Oxton Farms v Selby District Council
Oxton Farms v Selby District Council [1997] E.G. 60 (C.S.) per Judge LJ) the latitude in presenting information to the decision-maker is not a licence to mislead or to present materially incomplete information.

1998 Gas Safety (Installation and use) Regulations
Ensure all reasonable steps are taken to issue a Landlord’s Gas Safety Certificate to all tenanted dwellings on or before the expiry date of the previous certificate.

2000 Decent homes standard
London Local Authorities were required to develop a timetable where they assessed and improved their housing stock according to the conditions laid out in, what came to be know as, the Decent Homes Standard (DHS).

2004 Housing Act, Housing Health & Safety Rating System
The Housing Health & Safety Rating System (HHSRS) came into force on 6th April 2006. The underlying principle is that any residential premises should provide a safe and healthy environment for any potential occupier or visitor. To satisfy this principle, a dwelling should be designed, constructed and maintained with non-hazardous materials and should be free from both unnecessary and avoidable hazards.

2006 The Public Contracts Regulations
Allow for negotiated variations of contracts where, among other things, the contracting authority requires additional services which were not included in the original contract but which have become necessary, and such services cannot for technical reasons be provided separately from the original contract without major inconvenience to the contracting authority.

2006 Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006
Latest guidance ‘HSG 264’ requires management of asbestos in housing stock and to take all reasonable steps to minimize the risk of exposure to asbestos for tenants, leaseholders, employees and contractors.

2010 Disability and Equalities Act
The 2010 Act aims to end the discrimination that many people with disabilities face, which includes accessibility of public buildings, and residential as part of Lambeth’s Housing Standard which goes beyond central governments Decent Homes Standard.

2010 Localism Bill
This abolished the HRA subsidy system and moved towards a “self financing” model where the objective was to give local authorities incentives and flexibility to manage housing stock more efficiently over the longer term as well as to provide greater transparency between the rent a landlord collects and the services it provides. A borrowing limit of £408m was set for LBL which was determined by the value of housing stock.

2011 The Localism Act
Allows communities to prepare neighborhood plans for their area. In London, these plans are required to be in general conformity with the policies in the London Plan.

2011 The London Plan
Strategic planning in London is the shared responsibility of the Mayor of London, 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of the City of London. Under the legislation establishing the Greater London Authority (GLA), the Mayor has to produce a spatial development strategy (SDS) which has become known as The London Plan. Local Borough local development plans, which are also legally part of the development plan, have to be taken into account when planning decisions are taken in any part of London. (London Assembly 2011)

2015 Lambeth Local Plan
The Lambeth Local Plan sets out planning policies Lambeth to guide growth in housing and jobs, infrastructure delivery, place-shaping and the quality of the built environment over the next 15 years to 2030. It has to conform with the London Plan, and forms the new statutory development plan for the borough. (London Borough of Lambeth 2015)

2015 The welfare Reform and Work Bill
Introduced (amongst other legislation) a rent reduction of 1% each year for four years.

2015 Per R (Enfield London Borough) v. Secretary of State for Transport
EWHC 3758 (Admin) Elizabeth Laing J, the threshold is high and the “court should normally expect a witness statement or other document with a statement of truth to support a defendant’s reliance on these amendments”

2015 Per R (Logan) v. London Borough of Havering
DGOR61-62: The Council seeks to rely on section 31(2A) of the Senior Courts Act 1981. Per R (Logan) v. London Borough of Havering [2015] EWHC 3193 (Admin) Blake J, the point should be focussed on material available at the time – here the Council does not even identify the material on which it relies.

2016 EU Mortgage Credit Directive
Changed LBL’s shared equity offer for homeowners wishing to purchase a new build property, to Shared Ownership which effectively changed homeowners into a form of secure tenants, this directive re-defined shared equity as a financial product which LA’s are not permitted sell.

2017 Housing white paper Department for Communities and Local Government, Part of ‘House building’, first published 7 February 2017. Proposes to change rules surrounding private finance mechanisms employed by local authorities.