Tenure:
Ownership and
Right to Occupy:
Whose Home is it Anyway?
Ray Cashell
Shelter Northern Ireland
NUI Galway: Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
20th April 2012.
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.
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Ray Cashell:
Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
NUI Galway
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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”?
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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?
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Ray Cashell:
Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
NUI Galway
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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.
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Ray Cashell:
Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
NUI Galway
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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.
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Ray Cashell:
Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
NUI Galway
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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.
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Ray Cashell:
Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
NUI Galway
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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.
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Ray Cashell:
Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
NUI Galway
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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.
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Ray Cashell:
Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
NUI Galway
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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.
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Ray Cashell:
Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
NUI Galway
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.
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Ray Cashell:
Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
NUI Galway
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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:
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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
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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.
20/04/2012
Ray Cashell:
Contemporary Housing Issues in a Changing Europe.
NUI Galway