Jargon Buster

A

Assured tenancy: Type of tenancy agreement usually offered by Housing Associations. Tenants can continue to live in the property for as long as they wish, as long as they do not break certain conditions set out in the Housing Act 1988.

Audit commission: Independent body that scrutinises local authorities and Housing Associations to ensure public money is spent effectively.

C

Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH): Professional body for people working in housing and communities. Have affiliated organisations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Comprehensive spending review (CSR): Periodic reviews of spending on public services that is carried out by the Treasury. They determine how much departments will have to spend, what their priorities will be, and what they are expected to achieve through public service agreements.

D

Decanting: Process of moving residents from their homes while improvements are carried out.

Decent Homes: Government scheme to get housing to reach certain standards in terms of being warm, weatherproof and having reasonable modern facilities. The current aim is for 95 per cent of social housing to reach the Decent Homes Standard by 2010.

E

English Partnerships: Former national regeneration agency for England. It was a non-departmental public body responsible for funding and directing large-scale regeneration work. On 1 December 2008 it closed and its powers passed to the Homes and Communities Agency.

Equity loan: Loan given to help buy a home. The loan is only repaid when the home is sold, and its value relates to the value of a home. So if a home rises in value, the amount to be repaid increases proportionally.

F

FIRST STEPS
FIRST STEPS is the Mayor of London's brand to promote low cost home ownership throughout Greater London. L&Q and MHO deliver FIRST STEPS on behalf of the Homes and Communities Agency and in partnership with the Greater London Authority, London's Local Authorities, and Registered Providers of social housing and private housing developers.

Flexible tenure: Form of shared ownership that allows homeowners to increase or decrease their share in the property according to their circumstances, and ability to pay.

Freehold: Opposite of leasehold. Gives the owner the right to occupy a property indefinitely.

H

Housing Provider
A developer of homes; this could be a housing association, private developer or other Registered Provider of Social Housing.

HomeBuy: Range of government schemes designed to help people buy houses through devices such as shared equity, shared ownership, and other forms of low cost homeownership.

Homes and Communities Agency (HCA)
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is the national housing and regeneration agency for England, with a capital investment budget of nearly £7bn. The HCA contribute to economic growth by helping communities to realise their aspirations for prosperity and to deliver high-quality housing that people can afford. The HCA role is to create opportunity for people to live in high quality, sustainable places.

Housing association: Not-for-profit organisation set up to provide low cost housing, although the types vary widely. Range from small community-led groups, to larger operations involved in house building and development, often accessing funding through the Homes and Communities Agency, or private backers. Are also involved in helping tenants through initiatives such as Supporting People.

I

Independent Financial Advisor (IFA)
IFAs offer unbiased financial advice to their clients and recommend the most suitable products, if any, after researching the whole market. They act on their client’s behalf and should offer the option of paying by a fee, as well as the option of paying by commission.

Independent housing ombudsman: Service that allows tenants of landlords who belong to the scheme to refer any complaints to the ombudsman. All housing associations in England are members, as are some private landlords.

Intermediate Housing Market
Refers to those who are not priority for public sector rented housing (through councils and housing associations) but who cannot afford to buy a home outright or pay private sector rents.

Intermediate housing: Housing aimed at people who do not quality for social housing, but cannot afford full market rents. Can include shared ownership and key worker schemes.

Intermediate rent: Rent charged for intermediate housing, set above social rent but below market level.

K

Key workers:

A term used by the Government to define people they consider to be important to provide public services, such as serving personnel in the forces, police, nurses and teachers. They are often front line workers in essential public services where there are serious recruitment and retention problems and can be redefined by the Government from time to time. Key workers are currently prioritised at Local Authority level. Public sector workers such as teachers, nurses and police.

L

Legal Representative
A solicitor or registered conveyancer acting for each of the parties in the purchase.

Leasehold: Type of tenure where the homeowner does not own the freehold, but instead has a long term lease – often for 99 years – for which they may pay a ground rent.

Low cost homeownership: Range of schemes intended to help those who cannot afford to buy a home get onto the housing ladder, normally by buying a part share in a property through initiatives such as FIRST STEPS.

N

New Build HomeBuy (NBHB): You buy a proportion of a property, usually through a Registered Provider, and pay a subsidised rent on the portion that you do not own.  This scheme is now known as Shared Ownership.

National Affordable Housing Programme: Government fund to support the development of affordable housing. Distributed through the Homes and Communities Agency, and worth £8.4 billion in the current round, which runs from 2008 to 2011.

National Housing Federation: Umbrella body representing Housing Associations in England.

R

Registered Provider
A provider of social housing, registered with Tenant Services Authority under powers in the 2008 Housing and Regeneration Act. This term replaced ‘Registered Social Landlord’ (RSL) and encompasses housing associations, trusts, cooperatives and companies.

Registered social landlord: Organisation registered with the social housing regulator, the Tenant Services Authority, under the Housing Act 1996. Most are housing associations, although housing cooperatives and local housing companies are also registered.

Right to Acquire (RTA)
Housing Association tenants have the right to purchase their home through the Right to Acquire, conditions apply – you will have to have been a public sector tenant for five years or more and your home must have been built or bought by a housing association with public funds from 1 April 1997 onwards or transferred from a local council to a housing association after 1 April 1997.

Right to Buy (RTB)/ Preserved Right to Buy
Where council tenants (RTB) and tenants of non-charitable Housing Associations (PRTB) have the right to purchase their current home at a discount price.

S

Service charge: Charge paid to landlords or, in the case of leaseholders to the owner of the freehold, in exchange for maintaining communal areas of a development.

Shared ownership: Scheme that allows people to buy a part share in a home, if they are unwilling or unable to buy the whole property, with another party – often a Housing Association – retaining the remainder. Shared owners can often increase or decrease their stake in the home, thorough a process known as staircasing.

Staircasing: Process where people who have bought a partial stake in their home through a shared ownership scheme increase or decrease that stake.