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 his his Department has issued guidance on effective communication between housing associations and developers for resolving defects.
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: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of mould and damp in council-owned housing in England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 37561 on 19 March 2025.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a right for leaseholders to manage their own electricity supply arrangements.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The rights of leaseholders in respect of electricity supply arrangements are governed by the terms of their leases.
The government is committed to implementing measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 to make enfranchisement cheaper and easier.
The Act sets the method for calculating the price of a statutory lease extension or freehold acquisition, known as the valuation process. It removes the requirement for marriage value to be paid, caps the treatment of ground rents in the valuation calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value, and allows government to prescribe the rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium.
Valuation rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium will be set by the Secretary of State in secondary legislation. We will consult on valuation rates and commence the relevant provisions as soon as possible.
As per my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), primary legislation will be required to rectify a small number of specific flaws in the 2024 Act before the Act’s enfranchisement provisions are commenced.
Once brought into force, these measures, together with the already implemented removal of the two-year qualifying rule for enfranchisement, will mean leaseholders will be able to buy their freehold at any time, at a fair price. This will allow them to manage the electricity supply in their building.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the decision letter, Called-in decision: Royal Mint Court, London, EC3N 4QN (refs. 3353754 and 3353755), 20 January 2026, whether the build out of the Chinese Embassy site at the Royal Mint will be subject to inspections by local authority (a) building control and (b) planning officers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 110795 on 12 Feb 2026.
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, whether he has considered moving mayoral combined authority elections that were delayed from May 2026 to May 2028, to May 2027; and what representations he has received on this matter.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government intends to hold inaugural mayoral elections for the four Devolution Priority Programme places that are also undertaking local government reorganisation in May 2028, so that areas can complete the reorganisation process before Mayors take office.
Devolution is strongest when it is built on firm foundations, and this extra time will allow these four areas to establish robust institutions ahead of their Mayors taking office in 2028. With the consent of the constituent councils, the government will establish the institutions as soon as possible and provide each area with a proportion of their investment funds to ensure they can start delivering on key local priorities and deliver the benefits of devolution on the ground.
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: 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.