Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to amend the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 to include the enforcement of covenants by (a) management companies and (b) third parties.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Section 12 of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 already supports the enforcement of covenants by (a) management companies and (b) third parties.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps in addition to the current review of the leasehold system is his Department taking to provide a reasonable outcome for those leaseholders who bought properties with onerous lease terms.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Secretary of State held a roundtable meeting in November in which he made clear to developers that greater support must be made available to existing leaseholders with onerous lease terms. Some developers have introduced schemes to assist individuals with onerous leases which is welcome, but these must be extended to include second hand buyers. We are keeping a close eye on progress and will consider taking further action if necessary.
We are also working with the Law Commission to support existing leaseholders. The Law Commission’s consultation on making buying a freehold or extending a lease easier, faster, fairer and cheaper, which closed on 7 January, included proposals for a prescribed formula for costs.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to amend the Housing Act 2004 so that clauses in long leases which would cause the ground rent to exceed the statutory levels set out in that Act will be void for derogation of grant.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Where ground rents exceed £250 per year or £1,000 per year in London, a leaseholder is classed as an assured tenant. This has the effect of bringing some leaseholders within the ambit of Ground 8 of Part 1 to Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988. This means, for even small sums of arrears, leaseholders could be subject to a mandatory possession order if they were to default on payment of ground rent. This is a disproportionate remedy that was never intended for leaseholders. As part of our leasehold reform work we are committed to legislating for provisions which ensure that leaseholders will not be subject to Ground 8 mandatory possession orders for arrears of ground rent. We will bring forward the necessary legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many independent schools received business rates relief in 2017-18.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Department does not hold information on the number of business rates reliefs recipients by type of property.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities sold public land to companies based in overseas territories in (a) 2015-16 & (b) 2016-17.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Government does not collect information relating to the bodies or organisations to which local authorities dispose of their land.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the total value of the class H council tax exemption was in 2016-17.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Data on the total value of council tax exemptions is not collected by the Department.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the total value of the class V council tax exemption was in 2016-17.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Data on the total value of council tax exemptions is not collected by the Department.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the total value of the class P council tax exemption was in 2016-17.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Data on the total value of council tax exemptions is not collected by the Department.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many dwellings were exempt from council tax in 2016-17 under the class H exemption for unoccupied dwelling held for a minister of religion.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Data on the number of dwellings exempt from council tax by each class of exemption is published at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/659435/Table_5.xlsx
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many dwellings were exempt from council tax in 2016-17 under the class P exemption for visiting forces accommodation.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Data on the number of dwellings exempt from council tax by each class of exemption is published at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/659435/Table_5.xlsx