A Broad Rental Market Area is an area ‘within which a person could reasonably be expected to live having regard to facilities and services for the purposes of health, education, recreation, personal banking and shopping, taking account of the distance of travel, by public and private transport, to and from those facilities and services.’

A BRMA must contain ‘residential premises of a variety of types, including such premises held on a variety of tenures’, plus ‘sufficient privately rented residential premises, to ensure that, in the rent officer’s opinion, the LHA for the area is representative of the rents that a landlord might reasonably be expected to obtain in that area’.

[Legislation - Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Amendment (No.2) Order 2008]

INNER SOUTH WEST

Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA) implemented on 1st October 2009

Map of the BRMA

Overview of the BRMA

The above map shows , , , and their surroundings within a boundary marked in red. It is a densely populated, inner urban residential area which, in Wandsworth and Battersea, has undergone change during the last two decades that has resulted in an upgraded socio-economic character. Putney provides a more suburban atmosphere while Barnes, with its common and pond, has a rural aspect. The BRMA stretches about four miles across from east to west and about three and a half miles from north to south.

The area contains several well known attractions and points of interest such as Barnes Wetlands Centre, Young’s Ram Brewery Tour and Putney river front.

The BRMA is situated in Transport for London Zones 2 and 3. A rail line runs east to west in the north and others run southward from Junction to and . For geological reasons there are very few tube services south of the Thames but a couple of connections exist: East Putney to on the District Line and Balham to Tooting Bec and Tooting Broadway on the Northern Line. Bus routes flow through Wandsworth to most parts of the BRMA. The area is served by a network of main roads focused on Wandsworth: the A3205, A3036, A205, A214, A217 and A218.

Identification of Health, Education, Recreation, Banking and Shopping (HERBS)

The above map shows how the facilities and services (HERBS) are distributed. They are spread fairly evenly through the BRMA but the main concentrations can be seen in Wandsworth, Clapham Junction and Tooting.

Accessibility to facilities and services

(Information sourced from publicly available websites)

Distance Time by By Car (based on the Time Time By Time By Remarks From To Car quickest rather than By Bus Train Tube (where applicable) the shortest route) Southfields Wandsworth 7 1.2 20 - 5 Battersea Wandsworth 6 2.5 30 6 - Battersea Tooting 12 4.1 45 32 - Journey requires combination Southfields Tooting 11 3.4 20 16 16 of tube and train. There is a longer journey by Barnes Battersea 16 5.1 47 12 train takes 56 mins Train journey requires 2 Barnes Tooting 23 7.5 47 42 changes

The above table shows the approximate distances in miles and journey times in minutes from locations within the BRMA. Journeys are under an hour, demonstrating the reasonableness of accessibility to the main facilities and services. By implication the table also indicates that journeys to and from nearer destinations are also reasonable.

Variety of Property Types and Tenures

Totals Variety of Property Types All Household Spaces (Total) 137691 In an Unshared Dwelling 136431 House or Bungalow (Subtotal) 53284 Detached 3708 SD 11804 Terr or ET 37772 Flat, Maisonette or Apartment (Subtotal) 83028 Flat, Maisonette or Apartment: In a Purpose-Built Block of Flats 51722 Flat, Maisonette or Apartment: Part of a Converted or Shared House 28248 Flat, Maisonette or Apartment: In a Commercial Building 3057 Caravan or Other Mobile or Temporary Structure 119 In a Shared Dwelling 1260 Variety of Tenure Types All Households (Total) 131532 Owned (Subtotal) 70599 Owned: Owns outright 25757 Owned: Owns with a mortgage or loan 43794 Owned: Shared ownership 1048 Social rented (Subtotal) 28364 Social rented: Rented from Council (Local Authority) 17407 Social rented: Other social rented 10957 Private rented 30532

The figures in bold in the above table show the number of houses and flats in the BRMA and how many of them are owned, socially rented and privately rented. The other figures show sub categories. The table demonstrates that the BRMA contains a variety of types of residential premises and that they are held on a variety of tenures.

Note: The table was compiled by matching the Office of National Statistics 2001 Census data as closely as possible to the BRMA map boundary.

Sufficient Privately Rented Premises

The table shows 30,532 privately rented premises in the BRMA.

We would expect to collect approximately 15% of the private rented sector market; this would be about 4,579 pieces of lettings information to include on our list of rents. This is considered sufficient privately rented residential premises to ensure that, in the Rent Officer’s opinion, the Local Housing Allowance for tenancies in the area are representative of the rents that a landlord might reasonably be expected to obtain in that area.