Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
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 discussions with modular housing companies on providing housing for local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities shares the cross-government objective of increasing the use of modern methods of construction. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to protect customers of construction companies who do not meet their safety obligations.
Answered by Paul Scully
Under the Building Safety Act 2022, those responsible for creating historical safety defects will bear the burden of costs for remediation and will be held accountable. Before attempting to pass on costs for historical safety remediation to leaseholders, landlords should consider whether any monies can be obtained from third parties in connection with the undertaking of the remediation work and, if so, to pursue this.
To enable them to pursue those responsible for defective work, we have brought forward an ambitious toolkit of measures through the Act. Civil claims can be brought against manufacturers of, or those who have supplied, defective or mis-sold construction products, or those supplied or marketed in breach of regulations, where these products have been incorporated in a dwelling and that has caused or contributed to a dwelling being unfit for habitation. This provision, which applies to all dwellings, has retrospective effect for cladding products with a limitation period of 30 years and prospective effect for all construction products with a limitation period of 15 years.
The Act also retrospectively extend the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 from 6 to 30 years and our extension of the reach of civil liability to associated companies of developers, including trusts, to ensure that some of the largest businesses in the sector who have used shell companies and other complex corporate structures can be pursued for contributions towards the remediation of historical safety defects. These provisions will help to ensure that all parties that play a part in creating building safety defects are in line for costs to rectify them.
Where it is not possible to identify those directly responsible for historical safety defects, the leaseholder protections spread the costs of decades of malpractice equitably across the system. The leaseholder protections in the Act mean that building owners and landlords must fix historical safety defects in their buildings above 11m or 5 storeys where they are, or are connected to, the developer. Qualifying leaseholders are protected from all cladding remediation costs, and those whose landlord group has a net worth of more than £2 million per relevant building or whose property is valued at below £325,000 in Greater London, or £175,000 elsewhere in England, are also protected from non-cladding and interim measure costs (including waking watch). Any contribution that is required from qualifying leaseholders for non-cladding remediation and interim measures is firmly capped and spread over 10 years, with costs already paid since 28 June 2017 counting towards the cap.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many applications to sponsor refugees have been made via the Homes For Ukraine Scheme by households in Leeds North East constituency as of 1 June 2022.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Data on applications can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-visa-data-by-country-upper-and-lower-tier-local-authority.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities how many people have used the Homes for Ukraine Scheme to settle in the Leeds Local Authority Area.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Data on local authorities can be found here: www.gov.uk/guidance/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-visa-data-by-country-upper-and-lower-tier-local-authority.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to (a) end Section 21 evictions and (b) ensure no other route is created for no fault evictions.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to bringing in a Better Deal for Renters to deliver a fairer and more effective rental market that works for both tenants and landlords, which includes taking steps to end Section 21 evictions.
We will publish a White Paper in 2022 detailing our plans for reform of the private rented sector, and we are working with stakeholders from across the sector to inform this. It will provide further detail on repealing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 to improve security for tenants by putting an end to evictions where the landlord doesn't have to provide a reason.
At the same time, we must ensure landlords have the tools they need to gain possession of their property when they have a valid reason to do so. Through the Bill, we will strengthen the rights of landlords to recover their properties when it is necessary and fair, including when they want to sell or move into the property themselves.
This represents a generational change in the law that governs private renting, and it is only right that our legislation considers the impact of the pandemic and is a balanced set of reforms which improves the private rented market.
We will bring forward legislation in due course and when parliamentary time allows.