The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) has not been discontinued and remains a significant part of the suite of social housing options currently available across the country. It has been an important contributor to social housing supply since its introduction on a pilot basis in 2005 and continues to be delivered by all local authorities, who source accommodation from the private market and Approved Housing Bodies.
Under the terms of RAS, local authorities retain the responsibility to source alternative accommodation for a household accommodated under the RAS scheme, should the dwelling that the household is living in become unavailable. In such circumstances, it is a matter for the local authority to secure suitable alternative accommodation for the household. Another option is for households in RAS properties to source alternative accommodation themselves, independent of the local authority. Once the local authority is satisfied that proposed accommodation meets the needs of the household and conforms to standards for rental accommodation, the property may be brought into the RAS scheme.
The Housing Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2009 gives legislative recognition to rental accommodation availability agreements, which underpin RAS, as a form of social housing support. Consequently, since 1 April 2011, RAS tenants are considered to be in receipt of social housing support and should not generally remain on housing waiting lists for new applicants for social housing. Recognising that tenants housed through RAS prior to this change might have had reasonable expectations with regard to retaining access to traditional local authority rented accommodation, guidance issued from the Housing Agency in 2011 recommending that there should be a special transfer pathway for pre-2011 RAS tenants to other forms of social housing support. This arrangement effectively allowed those households to be designated as a ‘transfer’ applicant and to maintain their position for allocation as they had on the main waiting list.
All tenants allocated RAS accommodation post 1st April 2011 were informed at the time of offer and allocation that, as RAS tenants are considered to be in receipt of social housing support, their housing need is being met and that they will no longer remain on the main social housing waiting list.
However, it was recommended that allocation schemes also provide a ‘transfer pathway’ for new RAS tenants, whereby households in RAS have access to the transfer list in the same way as tenants in local authority accommodation. Where a vacant property arises, it is a matter for individual housing authorities, in accordance with their allocation schemes, to determine whether the allocation is made to a household on the main waiting list, or to a transfer applicant, such as a household from RAS, and the method of such allocation. It is open to housing authorities to specify in their allocation schemes the proportion of allocations which will be reserved for transfers, and within this, how many may be reserved for households seeking transfers to other forms of social housing support.
