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] OUTER NORTH EAST LONDON Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA) implemented on 1st August 2010 Map of the BRMA Overview of the BRMA The map shows Ilford and Romford, together with the districts of Hornchurch, Barking, Dagenham, Chingford, Woodford, Chigwell and Loughton within a boundary marked in red. The area measures approximately fourteen miles from north to south and ten miles from east to west. Mostly suburban, especially in the south where it is densely populated around the metropolitan town centres of Ilford and Romford, the pattern of settlement emerges from east London and thins out into rural tracts of land. Epping Forest is a notable attraction in the north of the area. Situated in Transport for London zones 4, 5 and 6 the area is served by tube lines, over ground rail connections and an extensive bus network. The main roads provide links from most destinations to the main centres; the framework being based on the A12, the A113, the A124 and the A112 while the M25 supplies private transport with a rapid route skirting the built-up districts. Identification of Health, Education, Recreation, Banking and Shopping (HERBS) The above map shows how the facilities and services (HERBS) are distributed. They are mainly grouped in and around Ilford and Romford. Accessibility to facilities and services (Information sourced from publicly available websites) Distance By Car (based on the Time By From To Time by Car Time By Bus Remarks (where applicable) quickest rather than Train the shortest route) Ilford Romford 6 17 42 10 Loughton Ilford 10 17 44 25-30 Woodford Romford 9.5 20 44-52 31-39 Rainham Romford 4.8 14 26-32 Upminster Romford 3.9 11 19 Barking Romford 6.5 19 48 Dagenham Romford 4 12 15-28 Harold Wood Romford 3.6 10 18-27 7 Chingford Ilford 7.5 14 35 Stapleford Abbotts Romford 5.3 15 21-30 Dagenham Ilford 5.1 17 44-48 Barking Ilford 3 12 28 24-29 Rainham Ilford 7.9 23 51 The above table shows the approximate distances in miles and journey times in minutes to Ilford and Romford. Journeys are under an hour, demonstrating the reasonableness of accessibility to the main facilities and services in the area. By implication the table also indicates that journeys to and from nearer destinations are also reasonable. Variety of Property Types and Tenures Variety of Property Types Total All Household Spaces (Total) 232267 In an Unshared Dwelling 231705 House or Bungalow (Subtotal) 177893 Detached 16891 SD 63707 Terr or ET 97295 Flat, Maisonette or Apartment (Subtotal) 53299 Variety of Tenure Types All Households (Total) 227695 Owned (Subtotal) 159364 Owned: Owns outright 63545 Owned: Owns with a mortgage or loan 94526 Owned: Shared ownership 1293 Social rented (Subtotal) 46949 Social rented: Rented from Council (Local Authority) 40542 Social rented: Other social rented 6407 Private rented (Subtotal) 17973 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 17,973 privately rented premises in the BRMA. We would expect to collect approximately 20% of the private rented sector market; this would be about 3,595 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 is representative of the rents that a landlord might reasonably be expected to obtain in that area. .