The Lifetime ISA is turning into a financial trap for young people. Currently the savings and bonus can only be used to buy a property up to the value of £450,000. However the average house price for first time buyers in London and the South East is at least £500,000. This property value cap even applies to buying a small proportion of a property on a shared ownership scheme. This means that to buy a home the government will charge you a penalty fee of 25% to withdraw your money as your house does not qualify for the deal. (In real terms, this works out at way above the 25% bonus that is paid and eats into your original savings. Which is a situation I now face. I am set to lose money on the very little I have managed to pull together.) In the midst of a cost of living and housing crisis this is completely unacceptable. The treasury is currently profiting from people struggling to save and get a foot on the property ladder with an ill-designed financial product. This limit should be reviewed immediately to ensure that people can use the bonus towards their first homes. Or the treasury should consider waiving the penalty for anyone in the London area who wants to buy a first home. Going forward the threshold should be regularly reviewed in line with increases in the housing market. This is the absolute minimum that the government should consider reviewing to support people to get on the housing ladder. It means that even schemes like shared ownership are inaccessible for people like me in the south of England. We are in the midst of a cost of living and housing crisis. The treasury is currently profiting from people struggling to save and get a foot on the property ladder with an ill-designed financial product. The government is unwilling to provide adequate social and affordable housing, or consider rent caps. If private ownership is the only way we the majority of the population is able to access housing reviewing this product is the absolute minimum that the government should consider. Even schemes like shared ownership are inaccessible for people like me in the south of England. The Lifetime ISA is meant to help young people get somewhere. But instead I’m now financially trapped.

I have lived with mould in my flat since I moved in. It seeped through the roof into my bedroom meaning I’ve not been able to use the top of my wardrobe for fear of my clothes getting damp and ruined. I managed to speak to the previous tenant and he had experienced the same problem. The landlord and letting agents consistently denied the mould was because of a fault to the property. The source of the mould was condensation from the roof tiles caused by a lack of proper, basic insulation. Since the tragic death of Awaab Ishak was confirmed to be due to prolonged exposure to mould a few months ago [1] renters like me have felt more anxious than ever about the potential consequences of mould harming our health. 11% of private rented homes have some form of damp (including mould) in them according to the 2022 English Housing Survey. [2] Thousands of renters have to live with the threat of mould ruining their home but also ruining their lives. According to a Survation poll, 37% of private renters experienced damp and mould in the previous 5 years. [3] Many things cause mould, including leaks, rising damp and poor insulation, but too often landlords dismiss complaints and blame tenants. Renters shouldn’t have to pay for the negligence of landlords and the Housing Secretary Michael Gove wants to change the system [4] It’s currently not possible to get legal aid for compensation for disrepair: whether for the inconvenience of living in those conditions or if your health has been damaged by your landlord’s actions. And when tenants can get legal support, proposed changes this year to cap legal fees that negligent landlords have to pay will discourage lawyers from taking on complicated housing cases – as problems with mould usually are. It is only right that renters be able to sue their landlords for damaging their health when they have failed to repair the homes they are making money from. By extending legal aid to cover damages claims and exempting housing cases from the new legal fee rules, the government would make it easier for renters to take action. If failure to keep homes in good condition is more likely to result in legal action, then landlords will respond more quickly to complaints and make sure their properties are safe to live in in the first place. So please sign this petition today so that we can tell the Justice Secretary that renters deserve to live in homes that don’t threaten their health and that landlords have to be held accountable. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/15/death-of-two-year-old-awaab-ishak-chronic-mould-in-flat-a-defining-moment-says-coroner [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-headline-report/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-headline-report [3] https://www.generationrent.org/survation_april_2021 [4] https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/michael-gove-homes-unsafe-rochdale-black-mould-inquest-b1042263.html

The Chartered Institute of Housing is seeking to host a lavish £250 plus VAT Presidents dinner at the very time NO ONE has been held to account for the tragic loss of Baby Telan Stone 11 months and Awark Ishak , this is in truly poor taste at a time in which families have had NO justice, thousands live in homes not fit for purpose whilst its leaders seek to hold a lavish jolly whilst claiming zero funds for repairs whilst Food Banks like We Care is facing closure because Energy and Food hikes mean it needs to raise £25,000 to open and serve its 3000 people and pets in crisis in 2023. This Event should be cancelled and cash saved investing in local food projects and improving tenant's homes. Across the UK in 2022 young children and babies have died in Social Housing the very sort of housing those most in need depend on and expect decent housing, holding a lavish dinner at a time Social Housing is under such huge and justifiable scrutiny is totally and morale wrong and should NOT go ahead

Like many people living in London, I've had to change my plans and delay life decisions in response to the obscene prices in the capital’s rental market. I’m so outraged by how much letting agents are charging, one of my tweets about it became a story in the Times. [1] But for one chain of estate agents, apparently even excessive rents are not enough. After looking at some of Foxtons’ adverts, I noticed that just to rub salt in the wound, they are also charging some tenants fees of £250 per person that were supposed to have been banned three years ago. [2] In 2019 the Tenant Fees Act banned landlords and letting agents from charging almost all fees to private renters. The only permitted payments are rent, refundable deposits and fees incurred due to the tenant’s actions, such as losing keys, paying rent late, or ending the tenancy early. Foxtons claims that it charges the £250 fee when the tenancy is a “short let”. [3] On 14 November, Foxtons was advertising 614 of these in London. However, unless short lets are specifically for holidays, they are classed as assured shorthold tenancies in the Housing Act 1988 (Schedule 1, section 9) and are therefore subject to the letting fees ban. [4] Foxtons describes short lets on its website as "from a few weeks to a few months". [5] By claiming they are not assured shorthold tenancies, the company is abusing the Tenant Fees Act – legislation renters fought hard to secure. Foxtons are profiteering from these illegal fees. And by keeping homes in the short term market and out of the longer term market, there are fewer homes for the people who need them most, and higher rents on the homes that do become available. Foxtons needs to stop ripping off renters and be clear that these illegal fees are unacceptable and will not be charged. [1] https://twitter.com/feedthedrummer/status/1587785056545918977 [2] https://www.foxtons.co.uk/let/fees_and_terms [3] https://twitter.com/foxtons/status/1585569745750970369 [4] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/schedule/1 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/922896/Tenancy_Fees_Act_-_Statutory_guidance_for_enforcement_authorities.pdf [5] https://www.foxtons.co.uk/landlord/short-lets

Cornwall cannot afford to serve as a satellite town for London anymore. Historically, we have utilized large Council Estates and housing for this purpose. Today, in 2022, Cornwall is facing a housing crisis, with residents receiving 33% less pay than the national average for services. Recent mortality rates from our primary hospital, Treliske, and Southwest Ambulance services have been alarmingly high. The region is experiencing long wait times, staff shortages, and limited facilities to accommodate the expanding population. In light of these challenges, how can Livewest justify this current situation?

Druids Heath and Monyhull Forum have been campaigning for Build First since September 2020 with their first successful event with residents demonstrating just how much space there is in Druids Heath that can be built on. As well as Druids Heath having lots of space where houses can be built, the technology is available to build those houses quickly that have low or no heat costs, saving residents the dilemma between eat or heat. Build 1St adds to social housing instead of taking it away as Birmingham City Council currently are, making Birmingham a better city to live in with less homelessness. Build 1ST avoids adding to the 15000+ households currently on Birmingham City Council’s social housing waiting list and worsening what is already a national housing crisis. Build 1St keeps the community together and reduces the huge social prescribing costs that come with the current clearance process, saving the city money. Build 1St means children don’t need to move school unnecessarily, losing friends and affecting their education. Build First means residents are guaranteed to move to a decent clean home, not a substandard neglected property that many residents have been offered or found themselves in, that may be worse than the flat they have left. Sign the petition in support of Build First - The Logical Choice. Support yourself, Support Druids Heath, Support Birmingham.

Background information: Our land - We are concerned about how our Council is managing its most valuable asset, public land. There is a growing danger that it may consider disposing of land for short-term benefit, without full consideration of how it may solve the City’s long-term problems. A major ongoing issue being the shortage of suitable housing for local people. Housing costs and incomes Sussex Live reported in May 2021, using Government data, that rent payments take up nearly 47% of income for those who live in Brighton. This is now ahead of London. In addition, too many people are trapped in emergency and temporary accommodation, and this is more than likely to increase if we do not act now. Consequences of bad housing: - There is a growing awareness of the web of knock-on effects due to inadequate housing, including malnutrition, drink and drug abuse, domestic violence/abuse, child poverty, mental & physical health issues. The resolution of these issues is becoming increasingly difficult for local Councils to resolve, and we are seeing long established safety nets gradually being removed. Social housing – the solution – We cannot fail to be aware of the importance of decent, sustainable social housing as a means of improving people’s lives, thus enabling our Councils to use their resources more effectively. This view is supported by every major housing and homeless charity in the UK , who have agreed that building more suitable homes is the only answer to the Homeless crisis. Many more Council Homes - We must, therefore, use our publicly owned land to build council homes. UK Central Government has allocated £10 billion to build social/council homes. Both Conservative and Labour Parties have accepted the latest report prepared by "The Kerslake Commission" and both parties have agreed to build a minimum 90,000 council homes a year. The Green Party in our city have always supported community house building and to build homes fit to live in for decades to come. Action required - So, with these facts in mind, we can see no justification or excuse for the Council trying to sell off our land for ineffective private development. This must be used for building much-needed Social Homes. We the public, as owners of this land, must tell our elected Councillors to protect it from being sold off or tied up in long leases, often at nominal prices and allow it to be used for the benefit of our communities. Please sign and share this petition and get your friends (and friend’s friends!) to do the same. If you can’t sign this, you may be part of the problem!

Our estate has a conservation order yet is being left to rot. Repairs are not being undertaken or not being done to a satisfactory standard. Tenants are struggling with rising costs to heat their homes due to sub-standard windows. We have large cracks, with often crumbling plaster and leaks in our homes due to structural damage. We were promised new kitchens, bathrooms and windows more than twelve years ago but these have not materialised. All of these are affecting our mental heath, our physical well being and cost us extra money in bills every month. Please sign this petition so that Lambeth Council see how many people this issue effects.

I feel privileged to live in Plymouth. It's by the sea, has amazing beauty spots, Dartmoor is close by and the nightlife, pre-covid, was phenomenal. It is one of the UK's top tourist destinations. Unfortunately Plymouth's advantages can also be a disadvantage for its residents. I lived in my last flat for 5 years. The rent was affordable and it was close to the city centre – but was not in a great state of repair. When I complained to my landlord about the broken boiler and asked him to make repairs to his property, he threatened to evict me. One day a Section 21 notice arrived for me and the other tenants in the building, meaning we had to move out. The landlord said he was selling up because he did not want to be a landlord anymore. But a few months later, I discovered he had turned the building into an AirBnB. I found pictures online of my old flat which he had renovated and done up to perfection. My neighbours and I are not the only ones this has happened to. Plymouth has become a city of holiday lets. Cornwall has 62 homes to rent on Rightmove but 10,290 AirBnB listings. In one village in Wales, three quarters of the houses are holiday homes. Fewer homes available for residents mean higher rents, and people being priced out of their local areas in search of a home. That erodes local communities and starves local businesses of workers. The only people who benefit are the landlords. One cause of this is mortgage tax relief, which holiday-let landlords are entitled to but private rental landlords are not. It is saving holiday-let landlords potentially thousands of pounds every year, and actively dissuading them from renting their houses out to locals. After all, why rent to actual residents when the government has made it cheaper to let out holiday accommodation? We need a level playing field so that the local areas enjoy the right balance between holiday lets and homes people want to live in. By removing mortgage interest relief from holiday lets, more property owners will make their homes available to people who need somewhere to live. This will reduce rents, stop people being priced out, and make sure communities in tourist hotspots benefit.

Leaseholders and tenants across the UK are facing bankruptcy and eviction because of fire safety issues we did not cause, and have no control over fixing. Our homes were not built to be safe from fire, and to add insult to injury, leaseholders are picking up the bill. The strain this is having on our mental health is immense; we’re feeling angry, hopeless, helpless and trapped. Who is responsible? Cladding manufacturers who falsified fire safety tests, construction companies cutting corners and ineffective Government regulations. They must all be held to account. Boris Johnson must recognise that our safety comes before profit. The Government must force developers to make our homes safe, before any more new homes are built and protect leaseholders from all fire remediation costs.

Ezekiel Herman is a Dad of four who is the only tenant in his tower block: Saxelby House on the Druids Heath estate. Ezekiel's neighbours have all been cleared from the block as part of the £42million regeneration the council has imposed upon the area. Ezekiel has been on his own in the block for seven months and desperately wants to leave too - the block is unsafe, cold and scary now it's empty. But Birmingham City Council refuse to offer Ezekiel a suitable alternative property and are now trying to evict him. They will only offer him 1 bedroom properties which would mean he would be unable to spend time with his children or care for them when needed. When Ezekiel appealed this, he was offered 2 bedroom properties - but only in retirement blocks with wardens and safety alarms which they have admitted "the children would not be able to live in". Birmingham City Council claim that this is due to their reallocation policy, which "suits the city but will not make everyone happy." Despite numerous requests by Ezekiel, interventions by his doctor who has made clear that this has affected his health, and proof that he is responsible for the care of his children, they have refused to budge. Ezekiel is not the only person affected by this policy. We have heard from other residents who felt pushed out of their homes after Birmingham City Council informed them that turning down property offers would result in them being taken to court. Some residents were lucky to find a property they were happy with. But more are unhappy: they have been made to move far away from schools, jobs and their families, or accept properties in poor condition. At the root of this is the choice Birmingham City Council made at the beginning of the regeneration to evict all affected residents and demolish towers before building any more homes. This means that they are increasing the number of Brummies who need council houses by hundreds, but building no extra properties to house them. This affects not just the people of Druids Heath, but everyone in Birmingham, and adds to the chronic social housing shortage in the city. As more clearances are due to take place on Druids Heath, and with the future of the entire estate currently unclear, this policy must be changed, more homes must be built, and Ezekiel and all his neighbours must be treated fairly.

Right now, an estimated 353,000 private renters are in arrears. Rent arrears have doubled since the beginning of Covid, and time is running out for the Government to prevent a homelessness crisis. Private renters are struggling because of the pandemic, and the Government has not offered enough enough support for those who have lost income. We need a Covid Rent Debt Fund to clear arrears, so that they cover average rents. Otherwise, thousands of renters will be extremely vulnerable to losing their homes, relying on their local councils to be rehoused, and risking homelessness, in just a couple of weeks’ time. Why we need a covid rent debt fund now. On 1 June the ban on bailiff evictions, which have been in place during the lockdowns, will be lifted. The courts have been processing evictions since September, which means that thousands of tenants will start being made homeless by mid-June. 60% of private renters had no savings at the start of the pandemic and a further 18% have had to use savings to pay their rent in the past year. How can these families and households afford to pay the rent, when they have experienced drops in their incomes, redundancies or a loss of business? The simple answer for many is they cannot. To make matters even worse, for the record number of people who now rely on Universal Credit because of the pandemic, many are now finding that benefits are not enough to cover the rent. People like Gareth from Worcestershire have had no choice but to fall into debt. He contacted us in April to tell us his story. “Since April 2020 my contracting business hit a full stop and I have been without income since that time… After 8 months I explained the situation to my rental agent who offered a slightly reduced monthly payment but still to be owed. So no benefit, just additional debt.” Renters are one of the most economically vulnerable groups in the country, and yet the Government still has not offered them more support. We need COVID rent debt fund.