In this month’s edition, we cover:

• Telecoms – can communications operators gain access onto your land and buildings to install or undertake work and surveys on telecommunications apparatus even when you object?
• Ground rents – an update on the continuing consultations being undertaken by the Government to put a cap on ground rents of new build residential dwellings and to prohibit exponential reviews of such rents.
• A vision for social housing – an executive summary of the thought provoking report published by Shelter’s commission on the future of social housing. The report recommends a 20-year programme to deliver 3.1 million more homes.
• Consultation on draft CIL Regulation changes – a summary on the proposed changes to the Community Infrastructure Levy, which will affect developers and housing associations.

 

There is so much happening in the sector... 

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, the final report of Shelter's commission has now been published and provides an in depth analysis on the current state of the social housing sector.

The report sets out the various background issues in Government policies, funding and development that has culminated in the current housing crisis and the rise in the private rented sector, together with the consequences of the decline in social housing on thsoe most in need of affordable housing and the commission's proposals for the future of the sector.

Ground rent was originally designed to reflect only the value of the ground that was being let, ignoring any building on it. This term is now frequently used to mean a low or nominal rent, usually one paid under a long lease that was granted in return for a premium. The landlord obtains a capital sum for the lease so there is no reason for the tenant to pay a full market rent for the property as well. Often the ground rent is simply a convenient figure and has little bearing on the value of the land.

Two cases decided in the Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal (the Tribunal) at the tail end of 2018 have confirmed that the Electronic Communications Code 2017 (the Code), which came into force 28 December 2017, provides considerable powers to telecommunications providers (referred to in the Code as Operators). In particular, Operators can gain access to a property in order to carry out preparatory surveys and exploratory investigations to determine if the property would be suitable to install apparatus even in the face of objection of the owner of the premises.

It wouldn’t be a proper new year without a proposed change to the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations (CIL). 2019 is no different.

The Government published its promised draft regulations and technical consultation on 20 December 2018. The consultation flows from the February 2017 CIL review and the 2017 Autumn Budget! A long gestation period, even for this complex set of regulations.