Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
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 plans to take steps to introduce protections against retaliatory eviction for people who complain about disrepair in the private rented sector.
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.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of setting timescales for landlords to respond to complaints about damp and mould in the private rented sector.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
I refer the Hon member to the answer to UIN 152295 given on 1 March 2023.
Our forthcoming reforms to private renting will improve conditions more broadly for properties in the sector, in line with our mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030. We will introduce a Decent Homes Standard for private rented homes for the first time, and we will also abolish section 21 evictions to strengthen tenants' ability to complain about damp and mould without fear of retaliatory evictions. We will continue to consider all options necessary to make sure that tenants' concerns on damp and mould are taken seriously.
We are providing £14 million of funding to local authorities through our Pathfinder programme to help trial new approaches to enforcement action and promote the sharing of best practice to improve standards in the sector.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
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 is taking to ensure that councils are able to help protect tenants who have complained about damp and mould in private rented accommodation from retaliatory evictions. .
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
I refer the Hon member to the answer to UIN 152295 given on 1 March 2023.
Our forthcoming reforms to private renting will improve conditions more broadly for properties in the sector, in line with our mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030. We will introduce a Decent Homes Standard for private rented homes for the first time, and we will also abolish section 21 evictions to strengthen tenants' ability to complain about damp and mould without fear of retaliatory evictions. We will continue to consider all options necessary to make sure that tenants' concerns on damp and mould are taken seriously.
We are providing £14 million of funding to local authorities through our Pathfinder programme to help trial new approaches to enforcement action and promote the sharing of best practice to improve standards in the sector.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps his Department has taken to help improve the standards of properties in the private rented sector.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
I refer the Hon member to the answer to UIN 152295 given on 1 March 2023.
Our forthcoming reforms to private renting will improve conditions more broadly for properties in the sector, in line with our mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030. We will introduce a Decent Homes Standard for private rented homes for the first time, and we will also abolish section 21 evictions to strengthen tenants' ability to complain about damp and mould without fear of retaliatory evictions. We will continue to consider all options necessary to make sure that tenants' concerns on damp and mould are taken seriously.
We are providing £14 million of funding to local authorities through our Pathfinder programme to help trial new approaches to enforcement action and promote the sharing of best practice to improve standards in the sector.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
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 finding in research published by Generation Rent on 14 March 2023 that local councils in England found 1106 private rented homes with dangerous levels of damp and mould in 2021-22.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
I refer the Hon member to the answer to UIN 152295 given on 1 March 2023.
Our forthcoming reforms to private renting will improve conditions more broadly for properties in the sector, in line with our mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030. We will introduce a Decent Homes Standard for private rented homes for the first time, and we will also abolish section 21 evictions to strengthen tenants' ability to complain about damp and mould without fear of retaliatory evictions. We will continue to consider all options necessary to make sure that tenants' concerns on damp and mould are taken seriously.
We are providing £14 million of funding to local authorities through our Pathfinder programme to help trial new approaches to enforcement action and promote the sharing of best practice to improve standards in the sector.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of rent debt.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
We understand the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and that paying rent is likely to be a tenant's biggest monthly expense. Individuals who need help towards their rental payments may be eligible for a range of support through the welfare system.
The English Housing Survey 2021-22 found that 3% of private renters were in arrears and 4% of social renters were in arrears at the time of interview (Apr 21 - Mar 22). These levels are similar to those the year before, which were 4% for both tenures (Apr 20 - Mar 21).
More recently available data, from the ONS' Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, found that only 5% of all renters reported being in arrears between June and September 2022.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
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 Parliamentary Under Secretary of State's contribution to the Report Stage of the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill on 1 March 2023, Official Report column 849, if he will consult publicly on the access to information scheme.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Under the Access to Information Scheme, tenants of private registered providers and their representatives will be able to obtain information relating to their specific home, as well as wider information on their provider’s management of their social housing.
The Access to Information Scheme will be subject to public consultation.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
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 Parliamentary Under Secretary of State's contribution to the Report Stage of the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill on 1 March 2023, Official Report column 849, whether the access to information scheme will permit tenants and their representatives to obtain (a) information relating to an individual tenant's property and (b) general information about policies and properties of registered social housing providers’.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Under the Access to Information Scheme, tenants of private registered providers and their representatives will be able to obtain information relating to their specific home, as well as wider information on their provider’s management of their social housing.
The Access to Information Scheme will be subject to public consultation.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
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 potential impact of freezes in the housing allowance on trends in the level of rough sleeping.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The causes of rough sleeping are complex, and it is driven by a range of factors both individual and structural, which could include changes to households' income.
The Government remains committed to ending rough sleeping within this parliament. We are investing £2 billion over 3 years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, including up to £500m in funding to local authorities through the Rough Sleeping Initiative, from 2022-25.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had recent discussions with the Scottish government on the implications of their decision to bring registered social landlords under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act in November 2019; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending this policy to the rest of the UK.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Through the proposed Access to Information Scheme, private registered providers of social housing will have similar obligations as they would under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act 2000), enabling tenants to access information about their landlords.
The department has had discussions with the Scottish Information Commissioner's Office over on the impact that extending Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA) has had on Scottish private registered providers.