Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Chartered Institute of Housing and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health A licence to rent, published in January, calling for the creation of a national landlord register for the private rented sector in England.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
A detailed assessment of this report has not been made. This Government commissioned an independent review into selective licensing which was published on 25 June 2019 and the recommendations are currently being reviewed.
This Government has no current plans to introduce a national landlord register, which could place an additional regulatory burden on landlords. This Government is committed to improving the private rented sector by driving out criminal landlords and landlords who consistently neglect their responsibilities to provide safe and decent accommodation.
Local authorities currently have a wide range of powers available to them including banning orders for the worst offenders, civil penalties of up to £30,000 and a database of rogue landlords and property agents targeted at the worst persistent and criminal offenders.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to improve housing conditions in the private rented sector in England.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Government is raising standards and improving conditions in the private rented sector by taking action against rogue landlords and empowering tenants themselves to take action against bad practice.
We have brought in the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, extended licensing of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and announced that we will require five yearly electrical safety checks. We have also introduced banning orders and a database of rogue landlords and agents to help local authorities rid the sector of landlords who continue to choose not to meet standards, and provided them with training, refreshed guidance and have just announced £3.8m of further grant funding to innovate and boost their enforcement work.
This is improving conditions across the private rented sector as rogue landlords are forced to either raise their game or to leave the sector entirely.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 1 October (HL Deb, col 1624) that there is now "a year’s worth of evidence, which shows that more people are being supported earlier" and that "this is having a clear impact on the prevention of homelessness", whether they will place a copy of that evidence in the Library of the House.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 1 October (HL Deb, col 1624), what plans they have to conduct a review into the effectiveness of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any high street building can be converted into a building for residential use under permitted development rights.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Permitted development rights enable all or part of buildings in a range of uses to change to residential use, many of which may be found on the high street. These include change of use from shops, financial services, hot food takeaways, and amusement arcades to residential use.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of high streets becoming purely residential as a result of permitted development rights allowing residential use of high street buildings.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Permitted development rights for change of use are part of a package of measures brought forward to support the modernisation of our high streets, helping them adapt to provide for a mix of retail, leisure, community and residential uses.
The rights for change of use from shops and financial services to residential use are subject to prior approval by the local planning authority, allowing them to consider the impact of the proposed change of use on the sustainability of the town centre and on an adequate provision of retail services.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of permitted development rights in allowing the use of high street buildings for residential use on their plans to revive local high streets under the Future High Streets Fund.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Permitted development rights for change of use are part of a package of measures brought forward to support the modernisation of our high streets, helping them adapt to provide for a mix of retail, leisure, community and residential uses.
The rights for change of use from shops and financial services to residential use are subject to prior approval by the local planning authority, allowing them to consider the impact of the proposed change of use on the sustainability of the town centre and on an adequate provision of retail services.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the Tenants' Associations (Provisions Relating to Recognition and Provision of Information) (England) Regulations 2018 which came into force on 1 November 2018.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is working with the Tribunal to monitor the operation of the Statutory Instrument. If necessary, we will seek to review it in Autumn 2019.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the difficulties of forming and sustaining Recognised Tenants’ Associations since the Tenants' Associations (Provisions Relating to Recognition and Provision of Information) (England) Regulations 2018 came into force on 1 November 2018; and whether there are now exemptions which allow landlords to avoid recognition of proposed and existing Recognised Tenants’ Associations.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
At this stage, the Government has not received evidence of any difficulties related to the Statutory Instrument. However, we do recognise that it has only been in force for just over 6 months. We are monitoring the operation of the Statutory Instrument and will review it in Autumn 2019 if necessary.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to allow local councils (1) to set their own discount rates for the Right to Buy scheme, and (2) to retain all receipts from the Right To Buy scheme; and what assessment, if any, they have made of the case for withdrawing the Right To Buy scheme to assist with the shortage of social housing.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government remains committed to the Right to Buy and believes that anybody who works hard and aspires to own their own home should have the opportunity to do so. We have recently consulted councils on increased flexibilities around the use of Right to Buy receipts, designed to make it easier for them to deliver more housing with those receipts, and will be issuing our response to the consultation shortly. The response will formally set out the Government’s views on the issues raised here.