The government issued the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (Commencement No. 3)
Regulations 2016 on 3 October 2016. These Regulations bring
into force various provisions of the Housing and Planning Act 2016
on 1 October 2016.
Regulation 2(a) brings into force Chapter 3 of Part 4 of the Act
(commonly known as Pay to Stay) which makes provision relating to
rents for high income social tenants of local housing authorities
(sections 80 to 87) and private registered providers of social
housing (sections 89 and 90). Section 91 provides for the
interpretation of Chapter 3 of Part 4.
Publication of this Commencement Order has caused concern among
some ARCH members as the government is yet to set out detailed
Regulation and Guidance on how the scheme will operate.
ARCH has been in touch with our contacts at the DCLG (Department
for Communities and Local Government who advise that the
publication of the Commencement Order is a procedural issue. In
terms of an implementation date for Pay to Stay, our contacts at
DCLG advise:
"We recognise that delivery by April 2017 is now extremely
challenging and the Department is assessing the impact of the delay
in publication of the regulations on the implementation timetable.
The ambition is still to implement in 2017-18 and we will provide
more information as soon as we are able, including guidance and
templates to support implementation."