All eyes were on a Covid-related budget earlier this month and support for housing was in the mix.? The two key takeaways were:

• Extension of the Stamp Duty holiday to 30th June 2021 ? a nil rate remains in place for property purchases under ?500k tapering down to ?250k by 30^th September
• Mortgage Guarantee Scheme ? the government-backed scheme will help banks lend to more customers with a 5% deposit with many large banks already signed up.

Welfare policies that could play a part in helping people afford their housing also saw extensions including the Universal Credit uplift and furlough schemes.? Here?s the full list of measures announced Budget 2021: What you need to know - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

An extension to the ban on evictions was announced last week with nearly all evictions paused until at least 31^st May.? All section 21 evictions are on hold until after this date with the exception of cases where courts have already made orders due to rent arrears of at least 6 months or anti social behaviour.

Only a bailiff can legally carry out an eviction, even if a Section 21 notice ? the most common route to eviction - has expired. Read the government announcement of the ban extension here.

Nottingham has two thriving rented accommodation accreditation schemes: Decent and Safe Homes (DASH), and Unipol, which applies to student housing.

Being accredited enables a landlord to show that they are managing and maintaining their properties well. Members of the schemes are able to access training and support which can help to navigate the very complex business of renting out homes. It gives confidence to renters that their home is safe and well managed.

Both schemes work alongside the City Council?s licensing schemes. If a landlord is accredited it means less work for the licensing teams when it comes to compliance and enforcement, and because of this it is possible to offer a reduction on the licence fee.

Membership of either scheme means that a landlord is achieving the Nottingham Standard for private rented housing.? Visit the following pages to find out more:
https://www.dashservices.org.uk/Accreditation
www.unipol.org.uk/code

Back in September the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government?released local authority level data on the percentage of homes with an Energy Performance Certificate with Nottingham coming out third highest of all areas in England and leading core cities with 71% of homes having an EPC.

The table above details ratings of the last batch of EPCs issued in the PRS (September) which saw over half rated C or B and only 1 in 10 rated below a D. The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard for renting requires properties to have A-E ratings, unless specifically exempt, and is currently being reviewed by government for?potential movement up to a minimum C or D.

The Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands pilot ended in April last year and government recently published its final evaluation report. Nearly 2,000 Registered Provider (RP) homes were sold through the scheme with rates highest in the urban areas of Leicester, Derby & Nottingham.?

Less than 1.5% of stock belonging to RPs operating in the city was sold. Challenges include the suitability of ?ported? properties, which were less likely to proceed to sale, and the identification of land on which to build replacement housing.

Click here for the full evaluation report.

Local social housing provider Tuntum have been awarded nearly ?100,000 from the Lottery Coronavirus Community Support Fund to deliver its Stay Safe, Stay Well, Stay Happy project.

The funding will be used to deliver vital support services to the provider?s older Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) residents in Nottingham, helping then to effectively manage anxiety, depression and other mental health problems associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, stay physically active, and connect with other people to maintain or improve their health and wellbeing.

The project will be delivered in partnership with a range of local services including Radford Care Group, Willows Day Service, Albany House Day Service, and Ukrainian Day Centre. Full article here

As an innovative and cost saving way of inspecting roofs of council homes Nottingham City Homes have for the first time carried out inspections on some of its properties using drones.?

Not only is this modern way of inspection quicker and more cost effective, there is no need to use scaffolding and the process is less invasive for tenants.

The first drone inspection was piloted on a property with a water leak in Bulwell and the company plans to carry out more inspections in this innovative way.? Read more here

The latest national rough sleeping annual snapshot data was released on 25^th February which showed a national decline, no doubt heavily impacted by the government?s ?Everyone In? policy at the beginning of the pandemic and subsequent funding streams specifically to assist rough sleepers.?

Although Nottingham?s snapshot figure (taken in early November) actually rose by 1 to 31 it should be noted that the count was undertaken immediately prior to implementation of additional rough sleeper accommodation provision in the city. A much lower number of 9 active rough sleepers was reported following the latest monthly headcount, carried out on the morning of 12th March. If you see a rough sleeper please inform the Street Outreach Team

Due to recent government advice to include homeless people in JCVI priority cohort 6 the city council has been working with partners and housing providers to make sure those eligible are offered a? vaccination.

Public Health have worked with partners in health and local homelessness organisations to develop a plan including specific clinics as well as access to vaccination at our main city vaccination sites. ?The clinics, provided by the GP Alliance and the Windmill Practice & supported by the Street Outreach Team and city council staff, ran over two weekends in March and saw some of our most vulnerable individuals provided with their first dose of the vaccine.?

Progress is being tracked to ensure those eligible have access to both first and second doses of the vaccine. ?We also hope to have use of a mobile unit in April 2021 and are looking at how that might help us provide access to the vaccine for anyone that has struggled so far.? Anyone with questions about accessing the vaccine for this group can contact Public Health for advice: [email protected].

According to the UK House Price Index, which uses Land Registry sale data, the average price of a home in Nottingham in December 2020 was??162,962

This is a massive 10.4% annual growth increase, with both the county and East Midlands region also seeing strong performance at 10.6% and 9.5% respectively as areas outside of London continued to increase in popularity - a likely consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic and desire for more & affordable space.

Two other English core cities experienced even higher yearly growth than Nottingham, with average prices in Leeds rising by 10.8% and Liverpool seeing an enormous 14.3% uplift.

When Hometrack UK first started publishing its UK Rental Market reports just over a year ago Nottingham topped the rankings of UK major cities for consecutive quarters before price growth began to fall. The pandemic and related restrictions appear to have the opposite effect of price growth in the rented market compared to the housing market boom.

Tying into a time when some restrictions had begun to ease however Nottingham posted a 4.1% yearly increase during Q4, up from 2.4% in the previous month. Only Newcastle and Belfast's rents rose at a higher pace.

While average rental prices cost ?33 less in the city than the rest of the UK (excluding London) another indicator showed Nottingham is becoming less affordable: an average single earner household in Nottingham can expect to spend 28.6% of their earnings on rent compared with 26.8% for the same household type in England, excluding London.

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