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Welcome to the website of Decent and Safe Homes (DASH) East Midlands

DASH is a project funded by the Regional Housing Group via the East Midlands Regional Assembly (EMRA) and is supported by Government Office for the East Midlands. DASH was originally conceived as a regional facility to support the implementation of the Housing Act 2004, but its remit has since expanded greatly.

DASH's regional scope has allowed the establishment of the East Midlands Landlord Accreditation Scheme (EMLAS). The centralised nature of EMLAS gives every landlord with property in the East Midlands free access to an accreditation scheme that provides them with information, training and events. EMLAS is free at the point of delivery to all East Midlands local authorities, providing considerable efficiency savings when compared to local or sub regional schemes of this type. Working closely with the regions local authorities, the scheme aims to reduce demand on local authority housing officers to enable them to concentrate resources on the worst landlords.

The establishment of Local Letting Agencies was encouraged in both the Rugg review of the private rented sector by Dr Julie Rugg and David Rhodes from the University of York, and the Governments response to the review. DASH is now well advanced in the development of its model for the region and aims to launch a regional Local Letting Agency in 2010. Once again, the regional and centralised nature of the DASH project will allow local authorities to have access to the scheme while taking advantage of the considerable efficiency savings afforded by the model.

The planning, organisation and promotion of Landlord and local authority officer training and conference events is a major work area for DASH. There have been 17 local authority conferences since 2005, covering subjects such as Enforcement, Migrant Worker Housing, Accreditation and the links between housing and health. All conferences received excellent feedback and provided delegates with the very latest information from a range of speakers.

Since 2005, DASH has offered in excess of 1000 delegate places to local authority staff on training courses directly related to housing. These courses have been offered free of charge or have been subsidised, with discounts negotiated from suppliers to take advantage of economies of scale and to promote efficiency. At the same time these courses make well organised and relevant training available to all local authorities in the region. Delegates from local authorities in areas such as Manchester, Oxford and Birmingham have also attended DASH courses, cementing the DASH reputation for the provision of high quality training for all.

For landlords, DASH has organised and held more than 20 sessions of its landlord development day, training 456 landlords as of December 2009. This industry recognised course gives landlords a great deal of information and has been warmly received by delegates. DASH has also organised three regional landlord summits and dozens of training sessions for landlords on issues such as fire safety, tenancy deposit schemes and HMO licensing. All DASH courses for landlords are free of charge, and some are held at weekends to ensure all landlords have access to them.

DASH facilitates highly efficient, cost saving, cross tenure regional service delivery by working for, and on behalf of, the 40 local authorities within the region. In recognition of these achievements, DASH won the public service award at the Landlord Buy to Let Show awards in October 2009.

Through its work, DASH has become a figurehead for highly efficient distribution of private rented sector knowledge and best practice across the East Midlands. The DASH website is a regional hub for landlords, local authorities and all other stakeholder groups within the region.

DASH promotes standardisation of policies and practices and provides efficiency savings through the avoidance of duplication by encouraging consistency in approach and collaboration. Through EMLAS, DASH engages with landlords in a highly efficient way, promoting professionalism amongst landlords and contributing to the aim of raising housing standards in the East Midlands.

As the local lettings agency is developed and introduced, this regional approach is set to pay dividends once again, with an efficient model that promotes benefits to all stakeholders but places a focus on standards and the much needed expansion of housing provision within the region, with strong links to several other agendas, including worklessness, employment, training, anti social behaviour and community cohesion.

Web Updates!

The website has been updated with a number of important changes:

Housing Market Report ~ Quarter 3 is now available to download
DASH is proposing to set up a Regional 'Social Lettings Agency' (SLA). The service will act in a similar way to commercial lettings agents except that tenants are in receipt of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and the SLA recycles any 'profits' directly back into service delivery. For more infomation read the Executive Summary
Sustainable Warm Homes conference ~ review of the awareness and training on energy efficiency in dwellings.
Housing Intelligence for the East Midlands (Hi4em) produce a quarterly Housing Market report. The August edition is now available for download.
The East Midlands Landlord Accreditation Scheme ~ EMLAS - FREE 3-YEAR MEMBERSHIP for landlords and agents guaranteed until April 2011.
Local Housing Allowance in the East Midlands .
East Midlands Private Rented Sector Landlord Research ~ Local Housing Allowance.
DASH Fire Safety Plans ~ A fire safety solution, in line with the recommendations of the National LACoRS Guide has been applied to the 31 floor plans and is now available.

Coming Soon...

The East Midlands Landlord Accreditation scheme would like to announce its FREE Landlord Conferences. Starting in March a rolling programme of events will be laid on for landlords accross the region. You will be able to register your interest in attending the event by a booking form on this website soon.

See a Review of Previous DASH Events

The DASH 15th Local Authority Conference ~ Enforcement
The DASH 14th Local Authority Conference ~ Health & Regulation
The DASH 13th Local Authority Conference ~ Accreditation & Regulation
The DASH 12th Local Authority Conference ~ Migrant Worker Housing
TheDASH 11th Local Authority Conference ~ Housing Regulation The Future.
The DASH 10th Local Authority Conference ~ Enforcement
The DASH East Midlands Landlord Summit 2007. A review of the 2nd Housing Exhibition & Conference held on 2nd October 2007 at Pride Park, Derby.

East Midlands Landlord Accreditation Scheme (EMLAS)

An exciting new accreditation scheme will shortly be launched in the East Midlands. This new scheme, called the East Midlands Landlord Accreditation Scheme (EMLAS), will accredit landlords rather than properties, and will have the backing of local authorities across the region. The scheme also boasts a strong quota of landlords on its steering group, ensuring that their interests are represented and acted upon. For more information visit the Accreditation page.

Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) Schemes

TDP is a simple process which ensures tenancy deposits are safeguarded against disputes. This is a legal requirement for landlords and will be beneficial for both Landlords and Tenants.

TDP will apply to all new Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales entered into after 6 April 2007, where a deposit is taken. From this date, tenants should ask their landlord for details of the scheme they are using when signing a new tenancy agreement.

Please see our comprehensive leaflet on the downloads page outlining the types of scheme, the operators, how they work, and what happens if there are disputes.

DASH website last updated:16/02/2010
Please report any faults/broken links to dash@derby.gov.uk

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