Asked by: Suella Braverman (Reform UK - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that registered providers complete remedial works within reasonable timescales when defects are identified in newly constructed homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no current plans to introduce new statutory timescales for registered providers to complete remedial works on new‑build homes.
There are already a range of legal and contractual protections in place to ensure defects are addressed promptly. Developers and landlords have duties under the Defective Premises Act 1972 to ensure homes are fit for habitation when completed. Many new‑build homes are also covered by warranties and the Consumer Code for Home Builders, which set standards for quality and provide routes for redress.
In addition, landlords remain legally responsible for meeting their repair obligations under Awaab’s Law, which requires them to investigate and remedy serious damp and mould and emergency hazards within statutory timeframes.
The government expects all housebuilders to deliver good quality homes, and we know that the vast majority do so. When things do go wrong, the government expects housebuilders to make things right.
To help customers resolve issues with new homes which developers have been unable or unwilling to fix, the government has committed to establishing a statutory UK-wide New Homes Ombudsman to investigate and resolve complaints and provide new home buyers with effective redress. We will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Reform UK - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to introduce statutory timescales for registered providers of social housing to complete remedial works following the identification of defects in new‑build homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no current plans to introduce new statutory timescales for registered providers to complete remedial works on new‑build homes.
There are already a range of legal and contractual protections in place to ensure defects are addressed promptly. Developers and landlords have duties under the Defective Premises Act 1972 to ensure homes are fit for habitation when completed. Many new‑build homes are also covered by warranties and the Consumer Code for Home Builders, which set standards for quality and provide routes for redress.
In addition, landlords remain legally responsible for meeting their repair obligations under Awaab’s Law, which requires them to investigate and remedy serious damp and mould and emergency hazards within statutory timeframes.
The government expects all housebuilders to deliver good quality homes, and we know that the vast majority do so. When things do go wrong, the government expects housebuilders to make things right.
To help customers resolve issues with new homes which developers have been unable or unwilling to fix, the government has committed to establishing a statutory UK-wide New Homes Ombudsman to investigate and resolve complaints and provide new home buyers with effective redress. We will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Reform UK - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will hold discussions with Homes England on the quality of new‑build shared‑ownership homes delivered by Abri in the last five years.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housing associations are independent bodies responsible for the management of their properties and for resolving disputes with their residents.
Where such disputes cannot be resolved through a landlords’ complaints procedure, the Housing Ombudsman can investigate concerns relating to housing management, including access issues, repairs, and complaint handling.
Homes England does not have a role in overseeing the quality of homes delivered by individual providers once completed.
The government expects all housebuilders to deliver good quality homes, and we know that the vast majority do so. When things do go wrong, the government expects housebuilders to make things right.
To help customers resolve issues with new homes which developers have been unable or unwilling to fix, the government has committed to establishing a statutory UK-wide New Homes Ombudsman to investigate and resolve complaints and provide new home buyers with effective redress. We will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2026 to Question 105228 on Community Infrastructure Levy, whether he plans to amend (a) planning practice guidance and (b) legislation in response to the High Court decision; and whether local planning authorities still have discretion to waive CIL payments to householders.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 105228 on 21 January 2026.
Any announcements will be made to Parliament in the usual way.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of households spending more than 30% of income on rent in (a) Liverpool Walton constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department collects data on income in relation to housing costs through the English Housing Survey. This is published annually and can be found on gov.uk here.
Due to methodological limitations, the English Housing Survey cannot show robust estimates at a sub-regional level.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 20 November 2025 to Question 89939 on Leasehold: Fees and Charges, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of the proposed changes to (a) the cap on ground rent calculations for lease extensions and (b) the changes to marriage value provisions for leases with 80 years or less remaining on the market value of leasehold properties (i) with 80 years or less and (ii) between 80 and 100 years on the lease.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 75605 on 16 September 2025.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to strengthen protections for freeholders living on estates with unadopted roads; and to help ensure developers and utilities providers act quickly to make roads and estates safe.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement published on 18 December 2025 (HCWS1210).
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Reform UK - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department holds data on the number of occasions Vistry has undertaken structural remedial works without obtaining the necessary Building Control approval in each of the last five years.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The information is not held. MHCLG collects quarterly data from developers who have signed the developer remediation contract. This data covers buildings requiring life critical fire safety remedial works, however no data is collected in relation to structural remedial works.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has had discussions with the Electoral Commission on reporting by Labour Together between 2017 and 2020.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Electoral Commission is the independent body which regulates elections and political finance in the UK.
The Department does not intervene in, or comment on, the handling of individual cases or the regulatory decisions of the Electoral Commission.
Officials regularly engage with the Electoral Commission on matters of policy development and the operation of the electoral and political finance framework.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to hold a consultation to amend electoral law to ban imprinted (a) candidate and (b) political party electoral communications being published in foreign languages during the short campaign election period.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no plans to regulate or consult on the use of foreign languages in campaign material.