Policy information sourced from The London Plan 2021

H11 Build to Rent

  1. Where a development meets the criteria set out in Part B, the affordable housing offer can be solely Discounted Market Rent (DMR) at a genuinely affordable rent, preferably London Living Rent level. DMR homes must be secured in perpetuity.
  2. To qualify as a Build to Rent scheme the following criteria must be met:
    • the development, or block or phase within the development, has at least 50 units
    • the homes are held as Build to Rent under a covenant for at least 15 years
    • a clawback mechanism is in place that ensures there is no financial incentive to break the covenant
    • all the units are self-contained and let separately
    • there is unified ownership and unified management of the private and Discount Market Rent elements of the scheme
    • longer tenancies (three years or more) are available to all tenants. These should have break clauses for renters, which allow the tenant to end the tenancy with a month’s notice any time after the first six months
    • the scheme offers rent and service charge certainty for the period of the tenancy, the basis of which should be made clear to the tenant before a tenancy agreement is signed, including any annual increases which should always be formula-linked
    • there is on-site management. This does not necessarily mean full-time dedicated on-site staff, but that all schemes need to have systems for prompt resolution of issues and some daily on-site presence
    • providers have a complaints procedure in place and are a member of a recognised ombudsman scheme
    • providers do not charge up-front fees of any kind to tenants or prospective tenants, other than deposits and rent-in-advance.
  3. To follow the Fast Track Route, Build to Rent schemes must deliver at least 35 per cent affordable housing, or 50 per cent where the development is on public sector land or industrial land appropriate for residential uses in accordance with Policy E7 Industrial intensification, co-location and substitution. The Mayor expects at least 30 per cent of DMR homes to be provided at an equivalent rent to London Living Rent with the remaining 70 per cent at a range of genuinely affordable rents. Schemes must also meet all other requirements of Part C of Policy H5 Threshold approach to applications.
  4. Where the requirements of C above are not met, schemes must follow the Viability Tested Route set out in Policy H5 Threshold approach to applications. Viability assessments on such schemes should take account of the differences between Build to Rent and Build for Sale development and be undertaken in line with the Affordable Housing and Viability SPG.
  5. On schemes that propose a proportion of homes as Build to Rent and a proportion for sale to the market, Part A of this policy will only be suitable for the Build to Rent element. The scheme should be assessed as a whole, with affordable housing calculated as a proportion of total habitable rooms across the scheme.

For more information please see The London Plan 2021