The private housing sector is very varied both in terms of the types and nature of the residents and providers. It encompasses tenants and leaseholders.
The majority of households who are privately renting, are under 35 and a significant number will be renting flats at market rents on Assured Shorthold Tenancies. This tends to be a transient group who increasingly will expect that the properties that they rent will have the appropriate services and amenities provided as standard (including access to digital TV services). However, there are also a number of elderly people who live in private rented accommodation on low rent, regulated tenancies, who will be resistant to change. Residents in flats (also referred to as Multiple Dwelling Units - MDUs) will generally expect their landlord to undertake any necessary works to the communal TV aerial system to ensure that television services are maintained through the switchover and beyond.
The needs of all groups in the private rented sector, including those in houses, will provide challenges for freeholders, landlords, managing agents and letting agents. The profile of the providers in this sector is extremely varied from the single property buy to let landlords to the corporate landlord with thousands of homes.
For leaseholders their role, rights and responsibilities in respect of upgrading the communal TV aerial will be contained in their lease (or title deeds in Scotland). They will normally need to act in consultation and co-operation with the freeholder, the managing agent or management company and the other leaseholders. Leaseholders in blocks of flats may have different requirements or expectations to those of tenants in respect of digital switchover and as a result, property managers may have to find a balance between their respective demands in mixed tenure blocks.
There are two main options for a communal TV aerial system: Master Antenna TV and Integrated Reception Service.
There has been increasing interest amongst property managers of blocks of private flats in Sky’s Free Shared Dish as a cost effective and efficient solution to future proofing those blocks for switchover and minimising ‘satellite rash’.
Preparing for switchover is possibly more difficult for property managers in the private sector, than any other. The number of interested parties in the decision making process can increase the complexity. There is not always a single driver or initiator and there can be conflicting interests. There can be no doubt however, that upgrading the TV aerial for digital switchover at the earliest opportunity should increase the letability of the property for landlords and be a selling point for leaseholders.
