Mobile Homes (Requirement for Manager of Site to be Fit and Proper Person) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Best Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Best (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I had the privilege of taking the Mobile Homes Act 2013 through the House. It came to us as a Private Member’s Bill from the other place, where it had been brilliantly championed and piloted through its legislative stages by my colleague Peter Aldous MP.

Then and subsequently, I visited a number of these residential park home sites and met the usually retired and sometimes vulnerable residents, the owners of these static caravans. In some cases, a happy community has become established and the management of the site is perfectly satisfactory. It has, however, been shocking to learn of the exploitation, harassment and intimidation at the hands of site owners—some with criminal records—who have acquired sites expressly to extract hefty pitch fees from the residents with threats of cutting off electricity and gas supplies, or, worse, to bully elderly residents into leaving so the site owner could make big profits when the mobile homes were sold.

At the time of the 2013 Act, we debated the issue of requiring managers of park home sites to be “fit and proper persons”. Although the Act provided for such a requirement, it was hoped that the other measures in the legislation would be so successful in ending the bad behaviour of a minority of dreadful operators that this extra step would be unnecessary. The Act did indeed outlaw some dreadful abuses and has made a very real difference to the lives of many of the 180,000 people who occupy these homes. But sadly, as predicted at the time, appalling behaviour by a few site owners has persisted and the measure before us today—albeit a little slow in emerging, with its implementation coming eight years after the Act—is very necessary, as is agreed by the reputable site owners’ trade body, the British Holiday & Park Homes Association.

The question in my mind is: will the fit and proper person test be adequately enforced? Will local authorities have the resources, skills and motivation to make this new requirement a reality? Will MHCLG accompany the new obligation before us today with the funds and central government support that can make it meaningful? Fees charged to the site owners seem likely to be no more than £250 to £500 for a five-year certification of fit and proper status. This is equivalent to £50 to £100 per site per annum, so a council with 10 park home sites —not untypical—could only count on £500 to £1,000 a year to ensure its officers were trained and equipped to apply and enforce the fit and proper person test, sometimes having to pursue some pretty slippery customers. So, in strongly supporting the regulation, I ask the noble Lord the Minister for some reassurance that local authorities will be funded and assisted to implement it.

Homelessness

Lord Best Excerpts

Monday 13th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I thank my noble friend. She will be aware that over £0.5 billion has been made available to support rough sleepers and get them into longer-term move-on accommodation. We expect local authorities and registered providers to bring forward units of accommodation from a variety of sources, and this could include repurposing buildings such as offices, where appropriate.

[Lord Best (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my interests as listed in the register. Has the Minister had a chance to consider the arrangements introduced in Spain to prevent evictions? Tenants with rent arrears caused by Covid-19 are entitled to an interest-free government-guaranteed loan to pay the landlord and remove the grounds for eviction, with the loan being repaid over a six-year period.

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I believe that the noble Lord has raised the Spanish initiative several times. Instead of following that model, our intervention strengthens the welfare safety net, increases the local housing allowance and provides discretionary housing payments to support renters.

Social Housing

Lord Best Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

My noble friend has made a very good point, which is that we could use the returns from housing in order to increase investment. I shall have to write to her on the specifics of her point, but it should be noted that the removal of the caps on the housing revenue account was done precisely to enable more money to flow into the building of affordable housing.

[Lord Best (CB) [V]]

My Lords, a core characteristic of social housing is that its rents are genuinely affordable to those on modest incomes, but defining “affordable” is not easy. Will the White Paper cover this, and does the Minister agree with the Affordable Housing Commission—which I have the honour to chair—that a sensible yardstick is for social housing rents to absorb no more than a third of the take-home pay of those for whom social housing is intended?

[Lord Greenhalgh]

My Lords, the definition of “affordable” is certainly not an easy one. While the Government have not set a specific percentage of the incomes that people in social housing should be spending on rent, as suggested, the formula is such that it is typically around 50% to 60% of market rents.

Covid-19: Planning System

Lord Best Excerpts

Monday 8th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Best (CB) [V]]

My Lords, can the Minister confirm that the Government remain committed to Sir Oliver Letwin’s recommendations for enhancing, not diminishing, the role of local authorities in planning by requiring a wider mix of homes for people of different incomes and ages and by capturing the big increases in land values created by the granting of planning consents?

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I am afraid that I did not capture all of that because of the quality of the transmission, but I can certainly say that we will be taking into consideration Oliver Letwin’s findings in his report.

Covid-19: Housing

Lord Best Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

My understanding is that the consultation is with the Secretary of State and we hope to get it out as soon as possible.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister will have noted the predictions of property economists that prices of land and property could fall by 10% to 30% in the year ahead. Does he agree that, rather than see speculators and foreign investors snapping up stalled developments and cheaper sites and properties, this is the moment for government to back social housing providers to buy and to build to achieve the 100,000 homes a year so badly needed by those who cannot buy and who struggle with private sector rents? That includes the essential workers, nurses, social workers and bus drivers on whom we now utterly depend but whose housing needs we have so neglected.

[Lord Greenhalgh]

The noble Lord is right that we must ensure that we have housing of all types and tenures, including affordable housing for key workers, as he outlined. I note that the affordable homes programme for the next five years is £12.5 billion—that is greater than the amount for the previous programme of £9 billion. We should ensure that building of more affordable housing can begin and that such housing is not for people who have not made their contribution to this country. There are ways of ensuring that we do that. I thank the noble Lord for his question.

Housing and Construction Sector

Lord Best Excerpts

Thursday 14th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I thank my noble friend for his question. Yesterday, the Secretary of State set out the Government’s expectations that the vast majority of hearings and other events are to take place virtually by mid-June, and that those involved in the planning process should work proactively to support this. I also take the point that this can be done virtually and by written representation, and I will take that up with the Secretary of State—particularly the point about written representation. On appeals, the Planning Inspectorate held its first digital hearing on 11 May, and the objective is for it to scale that up within a matter of weeks and to do all appeals virtually.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, the Government were right to introduce a ban on evictions at this time of sudden job losses and income reductions when rent arrears are inevitable, but the ban is due to end next month. Can the Minister tell the House whether that ban on evictions will be extended, to prevent a wave of evictions later this year? Have the Government considered the Spanish Government’s scheme to prevent grounds for eviction by enabling tenants to pay off arrears with interest-free loans spread over several years?

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I thank the noble Lord for his question and for pointing to the intervention by the Spanish Government, which we will look into. The Government’s immediate priority has been to ensure that no one was at risk of being forced out of their home during this crisis, which was achieved through legislation and the stay on possession proceedings. These protections run in parallel to the unprecedented package of employee support and the £7 billion boost to the welfare system, which have sought to minimise the risk of tenants falling into arrears. Any tenant facing financial hardship should explore the support available through the enhanced welfare system. The government guidance for landlords and tenants sends a clear message that all should work together in good faith and investigate all solutions to overcome rent arrears, such as an affordable repayment programme, before eviction proceedings begin. The Government will, when the time is right, consider making changes on how best to support renters in both the private and social sectors through the recovery period.

Housing: Rental Market

Lord Best Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

As I said earlier, we think it is right that local authorities remain responsible for this area. Westminster City Council has investigated or is in the process of investigating over 1,500 properties for unlawful short-term letting. In one case earlier this year, a fine of over £100,000 was imposed. But the noble Lord is right that those who let out their properties for Airbnb must pay taxes. That is something that local authorities should look at. Of course, when they register, local authorities can find out who the hosts are and whether taxes have been paid or not.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, the Government decided, very wisely, to establish a regulator for property agents—for estate agents, letting agents and managing agents of leasehold property—but have decided at the moment not to include in that the organisations that provide these very short-term lets such as the Airbnbs of this world. In view of the misgivings that abound about Airbnb and others and the campaigning work of the noble Baroness, Lady Gardner of Parkes, over so many years, might it not be a good idea for the regulator’s remit to include these organisations as well?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

We welcome the report by the working group on regulation of property agents chaired by the noble Lord. It was published in July this year and extends to some 24,000 words, with 53 recommendations. Since then, I reassure the noble Lord and the House that officials have begun an extensive programme of evidence-gathering with over 30 interviews with key stakeholders either already or soon to be conducted. That will form the careful consideration that we will give to the point he raised. While we are open to following the evidence, it is not government policy to support regulation of short-term lets at this time.