Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed fair rents policy in the Fairer private rented sector White Paper on the (a) build-to-rent and (b) institutional private rented sectors.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government will introduce a Renters Reform Bill that will deliver the manifesto commitment to end Section 21 'no fault' evictions. This will support a buoyant private rented sector and continued investment, including from institutional investors. We will publish a full Impact Assessment of our proposed reforms alongside the passage of legislation.
Our proposals on rent increases will avoid rent increases being used as a backdoor method of eviction, and allow both parties to negotiate effectively. Nothing in these proposals will prevent landlords being able to increase rents to market prices.
The Government does not publish data on the average time taken for a Section 13 case to be heard. Decisions on Residential Property Tribunal cases in England, including Section 13 cases, from December 2018 onwards can be found here.
To free up court capacity, we will develop an improved dispute resolution offer for the private rented sector (PRS). This includes improving access to redress through a new PRS Ombudsman and increasing the use of mediation.
We are working with the Ministry of Justice to assess the impacts of our reforms on the justice system. We will ensure it works for landlords and tenants, including through increased use of digital and online technologies.
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the timeliness of possession cases through the county court, but this is not divided into the grounds for eviction which the landlord has used.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of abolishing section 21 notices on the institutional private rented sector, including build-to-rent homes.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government will introduce a Renters Reform Bill that will deliver the manifesto commitment to end Section 21 'no fault' evictions. This will support a buoyant private rented sector and continued investment, including from institutional investors. We will publish a full Impact Assessment of our proposed reforms alongside the passage of legislation.
Our proposals on rent increases will avoid rent increases being used as a backdoor method of eviction, and allow both parties to negotiate effectively. Nothing in these proposals will prevent landlords being able to increase rents to market prices.
The Government does not publish data on the average time taken for a Section 13 case to be heard. Decisions on Residential Property Tribunal cases in England, including Section 13 cases, from December 2018 onwards can be found here.
To free up court capacity, we will develop an improved dispute resolution offer for the private rented sector (PRS). This includes improving access to redress through a new PRS Ombudsman and increasing the use of mediation.
We are working with the Ministry of Justice to assess the impacts of our reforms on the justice system. We will ensure it works for landlords and tenants, including through increased use of digital and online technologies.
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the timeliness of possession cases through the county court, but this is not divided into the grounds for eviction which the landlord has used.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department has taken to ensure accommodation owned by social housing landlords meet the Decent Homes Standard.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
All social housing landlords are responsible for ensuring they provide safe and decent homes.
The Regulator of Social Housing's Home Standard requires all registered providers to meet the existing Decent Homes Standard and have an appropriate approach to repairs and maintenance. In line with the Regulator's current remit in relation to consumer regulation, where the regulator receives referrals in relation to the Home standard, it assesses them as part of its consumer regulation processes, engaging with the provider to seek further information on the issues reported to them. Following an investigation, where the Regulator finds that a breach (or potential breach) of the consumer standards has resulted in, or could result in, serious detriment to tenants (or potential tenants), it publishes a regulatory notice setting out its findings.
Through the Social Housing Regulation Bill, we are facilitating the introduction of proactive consumer regulation, meaning the Regulator will proactively seek assurances that providers are meeting the standards, including through regular inspections of large providers. We are also lowering the threshold for the Regulator's use of enforcement powers following breaches of the consumer standards.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the potential impact of rental caps on the level of development of rental housing in Scotland.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Housing in Scotland is a devolved matter. The Government does not support the introduction of rent controls in the private rented sector which would set the level of rent. Evidence suggests that these would discourage investment and would lead to declining property standards as a result, which would not help landlords and would worsen conditions for tenants.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the impact of rental caps on the level of investment in the build-to-rent sector in Scotland.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Housing in Scotland is a devolved matter. The Government does not support the introduction of rent controls in the private rented sector which would set the level of rent. Evidence suggests that these would discourage investment and would lead to declining property standards as a result, which would not help landlords and would worsen conditions for tenants.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the trends in the number of house sales in the housing market in the last six months; and what steps his Department is taking to help increase the number of property sales.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Information about property sales in the UK is published every month by HM Revenue and Customs and can be found here. We committed to improving the home buying and selling process in the Levelling Up White Paper, by working with industry to ensure that potential buyers have access to critical information in an accurate and timely digital format.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he expects his Department will provide a final response to the issue first raised in correspondence of 6th April 2022 from the hon. Member for Southport on potential breaches of the Publicity Code; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the average amount of time it takes his Department to resolve issues raised in correspondence from hon. Members.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Publicity Code is guidance to which local authorities must have regard when producing publicity, defined as “any communication in whatever form, addressed to the public at large or a section of the public”. The Local Government Act 1986 gives the Secretary of State the power to issue Directions to secure compliance with one or more specified provisions of the Code, or all the provisions of the Code.
The Department has made enquiries with Sefton Council Chief Executive on this matter on two separate occasions in recent months and the Council’s responses are currently under active consideration. If and when a decision is taken to exercise the power to issue Directions that decision will be placed in the public domain in due course.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the correspondence from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Local Government and Building safety to the hon. Member for Southport on 27 February, when he will provide the update promised in that letter on potential breaches of the publicity code by Sefton Council.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Publicity Code is guidance to which local authorities must have regard when producing publicity, defined as “any communication in whatever form, addressed to the public at large or a section of the public”. The Local Government Act 1986 gives the Secretary of State the power to issue Directions to secure compliance with one or more specified provisions of the Code, or all the provisions of the Code.
The Department has made enquiries with Sefton Council Chief Executive on this matter on two separate occasions in recent months and the Council’s responses are currently under active consideration. If and when a decision is taken to exercise the power to issue Directions that decision will be placed in the public domain in due course.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to correspondence from the hon. Member for Southport, what assessment he has made of the extent to which a letter sent to constituents by a councillor from Sefton Council in March 2022 was compliant with the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Publicity Code is guidance to which local authorities must have regard when producing publicity, defined as “any communication in whatever form, addressed to the public at large or a section of the public”. The Local Government Act 1986 gives the Secretary of State the power to issue Directions to secure compliance with one or more specified provisions of the Code, or all the provisions of the Code.
The Department has made enquiries with Sefton Council Chief Executive on this matter on two separate occasions in recent months and the Council’s responses are currently under active consideration. If and when a decision is taken to exercise the power to issue Directions that decision will be placed in the public domain in due course.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure new build properties have adequate gardens that are suitable for all homeowners.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The National Design Guide recognises the importance of external amenity spaces. In addition, the National Model Design Code, which guides the production of local design codes, highlights that access to external private space is important for people's wellbeing and that design codes may specify the size of back gardens relative to the size or expected occupancy of the home.