Housing

Housing and Regeneration Act

This page provides a brief explanation of what is contained in the Housing and Regeneration Act as well as links to the Act and to the accompanying Explanatory Notes.

The Housing and Regeneration Bill was laid in parliament on 15 November 2007 and received Royal Assent on 22 July 2008. It will help to deliver the commitments set out in the Housing Green Paper of July 2007 to provide more and greener homes, in mixed and sustainable communities.

The Act established the Homes and Communities Agency, which focuses on delivering more new and affordable homes across all tenures and will drive and invest in regeneration. It will support regeneration and provide decent places as well as decent homes, eg by grant funding social housing and investing in infrastructure.

It implements the changes proposed in the Green Paper to give councils more freedoms and incentives to build new homes, and makes rating against the Code for Sustainable Homes mandatory for new homes.

Tenants are being given more choice and a voice over how their homes are managed, by reforming social housing regulation, giving tenants a stronger say in stock transfer decisions by making a tenant ballot mandatory and giving local authority tenants greater powers over options for the future management and ownership of their homes.

Changes are being implemented to improve the way that housing services are provided, including creating a level playing field for members of the armed forces applying for local authority housing and changes to improve the way the Right to Buy scheme operates.

The Act and associated publications

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