Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of registered providers currently offering a ‘downwards staircasing’ policy to their shared owners and whether such policies are accessible and downloadable from registered providers’ websites so that any shared owner can access them.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government does not collect data on the number of shared owners, impacted by building safety issues, who have sold or sublet their properties.
A number of steps have already been taken to accelerate the removal of unsafe cladding from buildings and improve outcomes for residents of all tenures, including shared ownership customers. This includes working closely with partners across the social housing sector to identify barriers to remediation and ways to overcome them. Further details of the Government’s plan to increase the pace of building remediation can be found in the Remediation Acceleration Plan, available at: Remediation Acceleration Plan - GOV.UK.
Social housing providers have the option to repurchase homes where shared owners are unable to sell due to building safety issues. This is not an automatic entitlement for shared owners and is available at providers’ discretion. Providers will have their own policies setting out when this option is available, including any relevant eligibility criteria. The Government expects all relevant policies to be published on providers’ websites in a clear and accessible format.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to get information from registered providers on the number of shared owners who had to sell their flats in a distress sale as a result of the building safety problems arising following the Grenfell Tower fire.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government does not collect data on the number of shared owners, impacted by building safety issues, who have sold or sublet their properties.
A number of steps have already been taken to accelerate the removal of unsafe cladding from buildings and improve outcomes for residents of all tenures, including shared ownership customers. This includes working closely with partners across the social housing sector to identify barriers to remediation and ways to overcome them. Further details of the Government’s plan to increase the pace of building remediation can be found in the Remediation Acceleration Plan, available at: Remediation Acceleration Plan - GOV.UK.
Social housing providers have the option to repurchase homes where shared owners are unable to sell due to building safety issues. This is not an automatic entitlement for shared owners and is available at providers’ discretion. Providers will have their own policies setting out when this option is available, including any relevant eligibility criteria. The Government expects all relevant policies to be published on providers’ websites in a clear and accessible format.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of shared owners who had to sell their flats in a distressed sale as a result of the building safety problems arising following the Grenfell Tower fire.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government does not collect data on the number of shared owners, impacted by building safety issues, who have sold or sublet their properties.
A number of steps have already been taken to accelerate the removal of unsafe cladding from buildings and improve outcomes for residents of all tenures, including shared ownership customers. This includes working closely with partners across the social housing sector to identify barriers to remediation and ways to overcome them. Further details of the Government’s plan to increase the pace of building remediation can be found in the Remediation Acceleration Plan, available at: Remediation Acceleration Plan - GOV.UK.
Social housing providers have the option to repurchase homes where shared owners are unable to sell due to building safety issues. This is not an automatic entitlement for shared owners and is available at providers’ discretion. Providers will have their own policies setting out when this option is available, including any relevant eligibility criteria. The Government expects all relevant policies to be published on providers’ websites in a clear and accessible format.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it will be possible to take account of geographical coherence when establishing a unitary council.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The statutory invitation letter of 5 February sent to leaders of all councils in two-tier areas and neighbouring unitaries set out the criteria against which proposals will be assessed and decisions made on whether proposals are to be implemented. The criteria includes that proposals should be for a sensible geography which will help to increase housing supply and meet local needs.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it will be possible to alter existing council boundaries when establishing a unitary council.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Existing council boundaries should be considered the building blocks for new unitary councils, but where there is a strong justification more complex boundary changes will be considered.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether regulation of property managers in the private sector would improve standards.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There is a strong case for greater regulation of managing agents. Too many leaseholders suffer from poor quality services and abuse at the hands of unscrupulous agents, and management of some buildings has become a more complex operation. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024, the Government will therefore strengthen regulation of managing agents to drive up the standard of their service. As a minimum, this should include mandatory professional qualifications which set a new basic standard that managing agents will be required to meet. We will consult on this matter next year.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of social homes outside London have a non-British citizen as the lead tenant.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Using English Housing Survey data, we estimate that in 2021-22, 6.8% of social households outside London had a household reference person who was not a UK or Irish national. For London, this figure is 14.7%.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report of the Home Builders Federation State of Play: Challenges and opportunities facing SME home builders, published on 22 January, regarding the number of small and medium-sized enterprise builders going out of business; what assessment they have made of the impact of this on the supply of new homes; and whether they have plans to support this subsector.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government wants to see a diverse and competitive housebuilding sector. We are aware of the challenges that small and medium sized (SME) housebuilders are facing, which is why we are supporting them through the £1.5 billion Levelling Up Home Building Fund (LUHBF) and the £1 billion ENABLE Build guarantee programme. LUHBF provides loans to SMEs to help build around 42,000 homes across the country. The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act will also help SMEs by making the planning process easier to navigate, faster and more predictable.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much public money has been allocated to promote Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) in the past five years, and whether they intend to publish a strategy to encourage the use of MMC.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to supporting the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) sector and tackling the barriers to growth it faces. Our support includes funding to build MMC homes through the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, developing a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) for MMC with the British Standards Institution (BSI), and providing financial support for MMC manufacturers through the £1.5 billion Levelling Up Home Building Fund.
We are considering the Lords’ Built Environment Committee’s recommendations including the recommendation to publish the strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many councils do not have an up-to-date council plan; and, of these, how many have plans that are respectively more than (1) five years, (2) 10 years, and (3) 15 years out of date.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states that up-to-date local plans should provide a framework for addressing housing needs and other economic, social and environmental priorities.
All the information requested and more, on the status of Local Plan, is published by the Planning Inspectorate can be found on the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-plan-monitoring-progress