Tenure: Ownership and Right to Occupy:

1. Tenure:Ownership and Right to Occupy: Whose Home is it Anyway? Ray Cashell ShelterNorthern Ireland NUI Galway: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. 20th April 2012.

2. Ray Cashell. M.Sc. CIHCM. • Civil Engineer by qualification; Queen’s University Belfast. • Worked for the Students Union [USI and NUSUK] 1975-78. • Founder member of SHAC Housing Association set up by USI/NUSUK NI Region in 1977. Worked for SHAC 1978 – 2010. • NI Federation of Housing Associations; Council member 1998 - 2010; Vice-chair 2007-9. Chair 2009-10. • Council member Homeless International 1991 – 2009. • Now in active retirement. • Founder member Shelter NI Campaign for the Homeless, 1980, now Chairman. • Committee member Council for the Homeless NI. • Part time lecturer in Housing Studies, University of Ulster. Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway

3. Housing Tenure: key questions. • What is a Home, and what rights should attach to your ability to remain in your home? • Who really “owns” their home? Who can afford to? • What is the big attraction in “home ownership” or “owner-occupation”? • Choice in selection, purchase and sale. • Right to alter / extend / replace [incl. self-build] • Right to pass on as inheritance. • Capital appreciation; long term low “cost”. • What does “ownership” mean? Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway

4. Housing Tenure: Key questions 2. • How and why can you be removed from your home? • Default; change of ownership; end of term? • Why should other people trading your home as a commodity affect your right to occupy? • Different “sectors” • Short term and Periodic leases; • Private rental • Social Rental • Long leases; “leasehold ownership” • Levels of “title” in Great Britain and Ireland. • Differences and similarities; Northern Ireland hybrids. Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway

5. Housing Tenure: Key questions 3. • Issues relating to rented housing and security of tenure. • Recent and current trends, and some older perspectives. • Feudal / medieval basis of current relationships, especially the terms Landlord and Tenant. Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway

6. Housing Tenure Issues: Why now? • Demands for reduced security to incentivise market. • Changing models for Social and Affordable Housing. • Mixed use developments; mixed tenure residential. • Use of private sector; • 2 models; referral of tenants or • Leasing and sub-letting by Social Agencies. • NAMA. • Re-structuring NI Housing Executive. • Market collapse and re-possession where owners default on buy-to-let mortgages. Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway

7. Towards a 21st Century model? • Directions and principles [?] in rental; social and private. • Long leases of apartments. • New tenure models; commonhold and co-operative tenure. • Range of Social tenancies; • Access routes and rationing mechanisms [priority/eligibility] • Co-ownership; rental part of agreement. • Succession. Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway

8. Propositions: • In the Business of renting property; a regulated business? • Towards a standard set of occupant residential rights possibly modelled on the UK Secure Tenancy framework. • Find new terminology to replace Landlord, Tenant, Tenancy, concept of occupier and “other interested parties”. • Define and limit grounds and methods for re-possession. • New options for financial default esp in 3-party situations. • Define division of benefits/profit on termination. • Define obligations to repair / provide for repair. Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway

9. The Government Role? • To regulate to ensure everyone can access affordable secure and good quality housing: Human Right Issue and social imperative. • To intervene and facilitate, subsidise or guarantee in individual cases where citizens cannot obtain housing in a regulated market. • To intervene to protect anyone suffering exploitation in seeking to obtain/retain a secure and sound home. • Sounds little but is a lot. Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway

10. Examples of Government intervention? • To Regulate: • Confirm commitment to Human Rights Declaration. • To regulate standards of housing and construction. • To ensure availability of land. [Planning, Zoning, vesting] • To ensure affordability of rents. • To limit property speculation [See EU rules on price inflation]. • Prohibit exclusion practices against anyone entitled to reside in the state. • To provide full legal security of tenure and succession in all tenures. Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway

11. Examples of Government intervention; 2. • To Intervene individually: • Facilitate delivery of not-for-profit affordable accommodation [currently labelled social and affordable]. • Provide state welfare based housing cost payments in cases of poverty. • To Protect: • Enforce fair trading and terms of contracts rules. • Provide accessible arbitration / adjudication for disputes. • Prosecute harassment. • Regulate rents and charges. Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway

12. Conclusion • Simplify residential property title to: • Freehold • Leasehold. • Regulate to Harmonise leasehold terms giving full security. • Remove power of third parties to evict. • Properly address title issues for apartments. • Protect and Respect the right to a home. Acknowledgement: This presentation and accompanying paper draw on a number of legislative and public report sources. Ray Cashell: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe. NUI Galway