195.Section 37 inserts sections 160B (offers of housing accommodation held by registered social landlords and private registered providers of social housing: Wales), 160C (common housing registers: Wales), 160D (regulations about common housing registers) and 160E (accessible housing registers) into the 1996 Act. References below to sections 160B, 160C, 160D and 160E are references to those inserted sections.
196.Section 160B imposes duties on registered social landlords and private registered providers of social housing in Wales in relation to the allocation of housing accommodation under nomination arrangements with local housing authorities in Wales.
197.Section 160B(1) provides that the duty in section 160B(2) applies only in relation to housing accommodation offered by a registered social landlord or a private registered provider of social housing under arrangements requiring that accommodation (or a specified amount of it) to be made available to a person nominated by a local housing authority in Wales. The term “arrangements” is defined in subsection (4) as arrangements made in connection with the allocation of housing accommodation under Part 6 of the 1996 Act and includes both legally enforceable arrangements and informal arrangements.
198.Section 160B(2) imposes a duty on registered social landlords and private registered providers of social housing to offer accommodation only to persons who are included on the common housing register for the local housing authority area in Wales in which the accommodation is located.
199.Section 160B(3) provides the Welsh Ministers with a regulation-making power to specify circumstances in which the duty in subsection (2) does not apply. These regulations are subject to the Senedd approval procedure.
200.Section 160C requires local housing authorities in Wales to establish and maintain a common housing register, which is a register of persons to whom housing accommodation in their area may be allocated. This register must include all persons who apply to the local housing authority for accommodation, provided they are not ineligible for an allocation of accommodation.
201.Section 160C(3) permits a local housing authority to include a person on the common housing register without the person having applied for housing accommodation if the authority decides they are eligible for an allocation.
202.Section 160D(1) requires the Welsh Ministers to make provision, in regulations, for and in connection with common housing registers in Wales.
203.Section 160D(2)(a) requires the regulations to include provision enabling a person with an entry in a register to access information relating to that entry and the allocation of housing under Part 6 of the 1996 Act. Paragraph (b) requires the regulations to include provision requiring the publication of general information about common housing registers and their operation in the allocation of housing in each local housing authority area in Wales.
204.Section 160D(3) sets out examples of other provisions the regulations may make. These include provision about the amendment and removal of entries in a register, the giving of notices in connection with entries on the register, and the information that may or must be included in a register. The regulations may also make provision requiring or authorising the disclosure of information contained in a register to a specified person, about the creation, collection, collation and publication of information relating to the register or its operation in the allocation of housing and may confer functions on local housing authorities in Wales or on the Welsh Ministers. These regulations are subject to the Senedd approval procedure.
205.Section 160E(1) places a duty on local housing authorities in Wales to establish and maintain an accessible housing register, which must include all housing accommodation in their area that is available or may be available in the future for an allocation under Part 6 of the 1996 Act, that has features which may assist a disabled person. Examples of such features may include level access entrances wheelchair accessible lifts, shallow ramps and level access wet rooms.
206.Section 160E(2) requires the Welsh Ministers to make provision, in regulations for and in connection with accessible housing registers.
207.Section 160E(3) requires the regulations to include provision requiring the publication of general information about accessible housing registers and their operation in the allocation of housing in each local housing authority area in Wales.
208.Section 160E(4) provides examples of other matters that regulations may make provision in relation to. This includes provision about the amendment and removal of entries in a register, about the giving of notices in connection with entries in the register, and about the information that may or must be included in a register. The regulations may also make provision requiring the disclosure of information contained in a register, about the creation, collection, collation and publication of information relating to the register or its operation in the allocation of housing and conferring functions on local housing authorities in Wales or on the Welsh Ministers. These regulations are subject to the Senedd approval procedure.
209.Section 160E(5) places a duty on registered social landlords and private registered providers of social housing which hold housing accommodation in the area of a local housing authority in Wales requiring them to comply with any reasonable request made to them by the local housing authority in connection with the exercise of the authority’s functions under section 160E.
Commentary on Sections Part 2 - Social Housing Allocation Section 37: Housing registers