Private Rented Sector

Project news & publications

Over the next year, we will be working to continue to publish reports, blogs, podcasts, government consultations and webinars with and by partners across the housing and domestic abuse sector. We will discuss key issues for survivors living in the PRS and the solutions that partners have developed to support survivors to overcome housing barriers.

Reports

Whole Housing Approach Toolkit, Chapter 6: The Private Rented Sector

This toolkit highlights the challenges that victim/survivors experience in private tenancies and considers initiatives and offers guidance for engaging landlords and professionals working in the private rented sector (PRS) at a national and local level.

Policy evidence summary 4: Justice, Housing and domestic abuse, the experience of homeowners and private renters

A briefing prepared for DAHA by Sarah-Jane Walker and Marianne Hester in July 2019, which draws on data collected as part of the ESRC-funded research project Justice, Inequality and Gender-Based Violence (Grant number: ES/M010090/1), conducted by the Universities of Bristol, West of England and Cardiff between 2015 and 2018 (PI: Professor Marianne Hester).

Policy positions & government consultations

The DAHA PRS Development Manager works with partners such as Surviving Economic Abuse and the cross-sector Domestic Abuse Housing Policy and Practice Group to inform and influence policy and legislation that could support individuals experiencing domestic abuse to access and maintain safe and stable housing within the private rented sector. Below is a list of government consultation responses related to the needs of survivors living in the private rented sector. 

• Joint Response to the Renters’ Reform White Paper
• Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse: Response to the consultation on statutory guidance for Domestic Abuse Protection Orders and Domestic Abuse Protection Notices (Sept 2020)

• Surviving Economic Abuse and Standing Together consultation response to the draft Code of Practice: RICS and TPO's Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) (Sept 2020)

• National Housing and Domestic Abuse Policy and Practice Group submission of written evidence to the domestic abuse bill committee (June 2020)

• National Housing and Domestic Abuse Policy and Practice Group response to the MHCLG’s New Deal for renting (2019)

Please see here for more information on the work of the National Domestic Abuse Policy and Practice Group. 

Articles

The previous PRS Development Manager has had the opportunity to work alongside partners at the National Residential Landlords Association, Association of Residential Letting Agents and FixFlo, to bring domestic abuse to the attention of their membership landlords and letting agents. Below are some examples of published articles.

• Domestic Abuse in the PRS: a matter of life and death, Residential Landlords Association (RLA) newsletter (September 2018)
• COVID-19: The Impact on Domestic Abuse 
• What can I do to help someone suffering from domestic abuse in my block? – Article published in the newsletter of the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA), Autumn 2022

Blogs, podcasts & webinars

Over the course of the next year, we will continue to add blogs, podcasts and webinars that focus on key issues faced by tenants in the PRS experiencing domestic abuse, and some of the solutions that could help survivors overcome barriers and safe and stable housing.

• Block Management podcast with Fernando Rutter, interviewing Guddy Burnet and Deidre Cartwright about why home is the most dangerous place for survivors of domestic abuse (December 2020)
• New report demonstrates need for ‘Whole Housing Approach’ for victim-survivors of domestic abuse, Surviving Economic Abuse (August 2019)