Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to (a) improve the quality of newly built houses and (b) ensure that purchasers of newly built homes are able to have defects rectified swiftly; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
I want to ensure we can be proud of the next generation of homes we build. We know more needs to be done to protect consumers.
We have announced our intention for a New Homes Ombudsman to be established and I am considering options for a shadow ombudsman. We will be bringing forward legislation to require developers to belong to a New Homes Ombudsman, which will treat home buyers fairly. We’ll soon be consulting on the details of how this will work - to raise standards and ensure that problems encountered by consumers are resolved faster and more effectively.
We will also establish the condition that housing developers must belong to a New Homes Ombudsman to participate in the new Help to Buy Scheme in England, post 2021. In the meantime we expect industry to improve the quality of new build homes in the first place, treat customers fairly and resolve problems swiftly.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will include the Association of Residential Managing Agents in his working group on leasehold reform and the regulation of managing agents; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
There are no plans to make the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) a member of the Regulation of Property Agents Working Group. The composition of the working group's membership needs to reflect a balance of interests between property agents and housing consumers.
Already included within the working group are two professional bodies with knowledge and experience of property management: the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and the Institute of Residential Property Management. Both these organisations have members who are also members of ARMA, or work on behalf of them. The working group will wish to invite others to personally provide evidence and give their views. When the working group discusses managing agents, ARMA will be at the forefront of the list of organisations for this purpose.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the case People Over Wind and Sweetman v Coillte Teoranta (C-323/17), when he plans to issue guidance regarding local plans; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is actively considering the implications of the Sweetman 2 (People Over Wind) judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union. We are working closely with Natural England and Defra, including on how to take forward any external guidance that may be necessary.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the case People Over Wind and Sweetman v Coillte Teoranta (C-323/17), when he plans to issue guidance regarding local plans; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is actively considering the implications of the Sweetman 2 (People Over Wind) judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union. We are working closely with Natural England and Defra, including on how to take forward any external guidance that may be necessary.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proposals he has to limit the ability of (a) freeholders to appoint managing agents and (b) freeholder managing agents to levy fees on leaseholders; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The outcome of our recent call for evidence on, ‘Protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market’, sets out our intention to introduce measures which will enable leaseholders to veto a landlord’s choice of managing agent where justified, review their performance and change agents where agreed levels of service have not been achieved and maintained. It also outlines our plans to set up a Working Group to examine those fees and charges that go beyond leasehold service charges, but can impact both leaseholders and freeholders, and consider under what circumstances they are justified, and if they should be capped or banned.