Private Sector Housing Forum

The Council aims to provide good quality housing and meet local housing needs. To achieve this, the Housing Department has under taken a number of initiatives to increase the number and quality of housing available within the private rented sector.

The Private Sector Housing Forum involves organisations and individuals who can contribute to the effective operation of the private rented sector. It is part of the drive to make the best and most efficient use of all the housing resources in the borough.

The forum meets twice a year and brings together landlords, developers, building societies, housing associations, surveyors and various Council departments such as Planning, Housing, Legal, Social Services and Revenue and Benefits to, amongst other things, promote good practice in the Private Rented Sector.

Other issues the Forum is tasked with are:

• To provide advice and encouragement to help landlords and tenants to understand their rights and obligations
• To ensure that empty properties are brought back into use and to encourage a responsible attitude to letting properties
• To promote liaison with housing and homeless agencies to encourage full understanding of problems, needs and aspirations, and to identify common grounds and objectives to be worked in partnership
• To identify weaknesses in the private sector and seek to eliminate them, and to identify strengths in the private sector and seek to capitalise on them

Forum Focus

The Forum publishes a newsletter called Forum Focus at least once a year. It carries a report of the most recent meeting, articles from professionals on related matters and also information on grants and other schemes available to landlords.

• Forum Focus - February 2008(pdf, 661KB)
• Forum Focus - May 2007(pdf, 319KB)
• Forum Focus - May 2004(pdf, 972KB)
• Forum Focus - Oct 2003(pdf, 494KB)
• Forum Focus - May 2002(pdf, 781KB)
• Forum Focus - Oct. 2001(pdf, 883KB)
• Forum Focus - Dec. 2000(pdf, 405KB)

Contact the Private Sector Forum

If you would like to join the Forum, or would like more information, please go to the contacts page for details of how to contact the Housing Initiatives Team:

Telephone: 020 8891 7833
Fax: 020 8831 6291
Email: strategyanddevelopment@richmond.gov.uk