Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What steps he is taking to ensure that all residential buildings with unsafe cladding are remediated.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Almost 95 per cent of all high-rise buildings identified at the beginning of last year with unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding have now been remediated or have works underway.
The Government has announced a further £3.5 billion for the remediation of unsafe cladding on high rise buildings of 18 metres and above, in addition to the £1.6 billion we have already provided. Through an additional package we will also now provide a generous financing scheme to allow buildings of 11-18 metres in height to access finance for remediation of unsafe cladding. Leaseholders will pay no more than £50 per month towards this.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to introduce a mandatory requirement for fibre optic infrastructure to be included in all new developments.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Ensuring that every new home is built with fast, reliable and resilient broadband is a priority for this Government. We announced in March 2020 that we will amend the Building Regulations to require the provision of gigabit-capable connectivity such as fibre optic infrastructure to new homes. We plan to publish a technical consultation this Winter and to introduce the new requirements in 2021.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to protect the right to a fair reference for tenants in rented accommodation.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The reference process is a private matter between the parties involved and not something it would be appropriate for the Government to intervene in.
Landlords and letting agents may wish to obtain references from their prospective tenant’s former landlords or letting agent but cannot charge the tenant a fee for this process. As part of the referencing process, landlords may take into account various factors when deciding whether to let to a tenant, including previous or outstanding rent arrears. Where these factors have been adversely affected by circumstances arising from the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, we would encourage landlords and letting agents to be considerate of this when deciding whether to accept or recommend such tenants. When completing the referencing process, both the previous landlord and prospective tenant should therefore provide any necessary contextual information to aid these considerations. For example, this could include details of any voluntary arrangements or payment holidays which were agreed.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support shielding tenants in private rented accommodation whose landlord requests that a third party access their property at short notice.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Tenants have a right to the quiet enjoyment of their property and must be given at least 24 hours’ notice of any visit to the property. If a tenant is self-isolating, no work should be carried out in their home unless it is to remedy a direct risk that affects their safety or the safety of their household.
Landlords of clinically extremely vulnerable people can carry out routine repairs and inspections, provided the latest guidance on social distancing, working safely in people’s homes and guidance for clinically extremely vulnerable individuals is followed.
It remains a crime for a landlord to harass a tenant. Tenants who are concerned should contact their local authority or the police.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on remediation works to remove Aluminium Composite Material from (a) public and (b) social buildings.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The impact of Covid-19 on ACM remediation has been published in the Building Safety Programme’s monthly data release since the April 2020 data release (published 14 May 2020). The latest information is available in the July data release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-programme-monthly-data-release-july-2020.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of applications to the Aluminium Composite Material remediation fund from local authorities have been successful.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The latest information on the Social Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund is available in the Building Safety Programme’s monthly data release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-programme-monthly-data-release-july-2020.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the average timeframe is for processing an application to the Aluminium Composite Material remediation fund.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Information related to progress of applications to the Private Sector Remediation Fund is reported in the Building Safety Programme’s monthly data release. It was first reported in the October 2019 data release (published 14 November 2019). The latest information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-programme-monthly-data-release-july-2020
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of buildings guidance issued by the Independent Expert Advisory Panel on the sale of leasehold properties in buildings (a) under and (b) over 18 meters in height.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Minister for Building Safety is aware that lenders are taking a cautious approach to lending on leasehold properties of all heights, where there may be unsafe external wall systems and where the building owner is unable to evidence the safety of the building.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to review the budget allocated to the Aluminium Composite Material Remediation fund.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The £600 million funding which the Government has allocated for the remediation of buildings with unsafe ACM cladding is expected to be sufficient to meet demand. Government funding is not the only means of remediating high-rise residential buildings with unsafe ACM cladding. Building owners are expected to play a part in ensuring that their buildings are made safe.
In more than half of the cases where there is ACM cladding on private sector residential blocks, the original developer or current building owner has agreed to pay or there has been a warranty in place to cover the remediation costs, without passing these on to leaseholders. Whether provided by Government or other sources, availability of funding to protect leaseholders from these costs should not be a barrier for ACM remediation to take place.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department has issued to mortgage lenders in relation to the scope of recent buildings safety advice provided by the Independent Expert Advisory Panel.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
My department has not issued specialist advice to lenders on this topic. The ‘Advice for Building Owners of Multi-storey, multi occupancy residential buildings’, published on 20th January 2020 is advice for Building Owners. It is not advice, or guidance, to the financial services industry.