Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of social housing properties that are vacant between tenancies at any one time.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not collect data on the number of social housing properties that are vacant between tenancies at any one time.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - 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 principal barriers preventing shared ownership leaseholders from staircasing to full ownership.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is aware that some shared owners who wish to staircase face challenges in doing so. These can include affordability pressures, wider housing market conditions, transaction costs associated with staircasing, service charges and other ongoing housing costs.
As part of these wider affordability pressures, the government is aware that some shared owners have experienced challenges with service charge affordability. Service charges form an important part of the overall housing costs faced by many shared owners and can affect their ability to staircase.
The impact of these costs can also vary between different parts of the country. The government recognises that housing markets and affordability pressures differ across England, which can affect both access to Shared Ownership and customer experiences of the scheme.
To help address these challenges, the government has introduced new expectations for landlords including greater consideration of long-term affordability, increased transparency and fairness on costs, ensuring that fees do not generate a profit, and enabling customers to opt out of optional services.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - 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 impact of service charges on the affordability of shared ownership homes.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is aware that some shared owners who wish to staircase face challenges in doing so. These can include affordability pressures, wider housing market conditions, transaction costs associated with staircasing, service charges and other ongoing housing costs.
As part of these wider affordability pressures, the government is aware that some shared owners have experienced challenges with service charge affordability. Service charges form an important part of the overall housing costs faced by many shared owners and can affect their ability to staircase.
The impact of these costs can also vary between different parts of the country. The government recognises that housing markets and affordability pressures differ across England, which can affect both access to Shared Ownership and customer experiences of the scheme.
To help address these challenges, the government has introduced new expectations for landlords including greater consideration of long-term affordability, increased transparency and fairness on costs, ensuring that fees do not generate a profit, and enabling customers to opt out of optional services.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of regional differences in access to shared ownership schemes.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is aware that some shared owners who wish to staircase face challenges in doing so. These can include affordability pressures, wider housing market conditions, transaction costs associated with staircasing, service charges and other ongoing housing costs.
As part of these wider affordability pressures, the government is aware that some shared owners have experienced challenges with service charge affordability. Service charges form an important part of the overall housing costs faced by many shared owners and can affect their ability to staircase.
The impact of these costs can also vary between different parts of the country. The government recognises that housing markets and affordability pressures differ across England, which can affect both access to Shared Ownership and customer experiences of the scheme.
To help address these challenges, the government has introduced new expectations for landlords including greater consideration of long-term affordability, increased transparency and fairness on costs, ensuring that fees do not generate a profit, and enabling customers to opt out of optional services.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the average and median turnaround time for social housing properties between tenancies in the latest year for which figures are available, broken down by local authority.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department’s annual Social Housing Lettings in England statistical series includes data on the mean and median re-let times for social housing properties between tenancies in England and can be found in table 2fi and 2fii on gov.uk here. In line with data protection legislation, this is not broken down by local authority.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - 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 accuracy of local authority housing waiting lists; and whether they collect information on the frequency with which local authorities review their housing registers.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My department has not made an assessment of the accuracy of local authority housing registers (waiting lists) and does not collect information on how frequently local authorities review their housing registers.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 16 June (HL763), what criteria they used to determine that the home buying and selling reform roadmap constitutes the “biggest shake-up to home buying in this country’s history".
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 19 June, the Government published a roadmap setting out the actions it will take over the course of this Parliament to reform home buying and selling.
This marks a fundamental transformation, taking a whole‑system approach. It addresses the regulatory framework surrounding home moving, harnesses technological advances, and drives cultural and behavioural change, all underpinned by a comprehensive programme of legislation.
We believe this represents the most ambitious programme of reform to the home buying and selling process to date.
These reforms will create a system that is faster, more transparent and more reliable for consumers. They are expected to cut transaction times by around four weeks, save first-time buyers an average of £650, and halve the number of failed transactions.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement made by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 16 June (HLWS119), what plans they have to rename the new Place Unit.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There are no plans to rename the new Place Unit.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government which councils and combined authorities will have elections in May 2027; and which will have their scheduled elections cancelled as a consequence of unitary restructuring.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government remains committed to the indicative timetable for local government reorganisation set out in July 2025, with elections to the new councils scheduled for May 2027. These will replace local elections for any existing councils in those areas.
The two Combined Authorities of Cumbria and Cheshire & Warrington will also hold inaugural mayoral elections in May 2027, to align with the majority of other local elections taking place.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Livermore on 14 May (HLWS9), and further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 23 April (HL16466), what estimate they have made of total business rate receipts in England, including both local and central lists, in (1) 2024–25, (2) 2025–26, (3) 2026–27, (4) 2027–28, and (5) 2028–29.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authority estimates of business rates receipts are published by the department annually:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils
Business rates receipts in England are estimated to be £26.4bn in 2024-25, £29.5bn in 2025-26 and £30.6bn in 2026-27. These figures exclude receipts from the central list.
Estimates of Rateable Value for each property on the central list are published by the Valuation Office, which can be used to calculate estimated business rates receipts:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-central-rating-list
Business rates receipts from the central list are estimated to be £2.1bn in both 2024-25 and 2025-26 and £2.4bn in 2026-27.
For 2027-28 and 2028-29, estimates come from the calculations that support the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast. These show that business rates receipts are estimated to be £34.0bn for 2027-28 and £34.8bn for 2028-29 in England, including both local and central lists.