Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the effectiveness of the Local Government Ombudsman.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government acts as the sponsor Department for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO)
Governance arrangements are set out in a publicly-available Framework Document (https://www.lgo.org.uk/information-centre/about-us/others-we-work-with) and include quarterly Accounting Officer meetings, chaired by the Department’s Senior Sponsor and attended by the LGSCO’s Chief Executive, that cover performance, risk, finance and other key issues
The Ombudsman is independent of Government in all matters relating to the investigation, determination, reporting and remedy of complaints.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
What steps his Department is taking to tackle unfair practices in the leasehold system.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is very clear that unjust practices in leasehold must come to an end. We have committed to banning new leasehold houses and restricting ground rents on future leases to a peppercorn. We launched our consultation on the details of these proposals on 15 October.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recourse to complaint freeholders have who pay into a common management scheme that is badly managed.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Freeholders have recourse to a number of procedures to help settle a complaint. An initial complaint can be made through their common management scheme's complaints procedure. If necessary, complaints can be escalated through one of the following ombudsman schemes: Ombudsman Services: Property, Property Redress Scheme, and The Property Ombudsman. Ultimately, a complaint can be settled through the courts.
As part of the response to the consultation 'Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market' the Government committed to legislate to ensure that freeholders who pay charges for the maintenance of communal areas and facilities on a private or mixed use estate can access equivalent rights as leaseholders to challenge their reasonableness. We will bring forward the necessary legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
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 address effect of the shortage of planning inspectors on the progress of road developments in Cheshire East.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The shortage of planning inspectors is being dealt with by a substantial and on-going recruitment programme. The Planning Inspectorate is working to increase the number of specialist inspectors with training and mentoring support, against a demanding background of increasing levels of work in nearly all areas of the business.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recourse to action residents have in relation to builders who having part-developed a freehold site appoint a management company that unsatisfactorily administers the common parts of that site; and whether there is an equivalent of the Leasehold Advisory Service from which freeholders can seek help.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for leaseholders and freeholders and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service.
There are a number of ways to take action against a poor managing agent. Freeholders can make a formal complaint through their managing agent’s own complaints procedure. A complaint can also be made to one of the Government-recognised redress scheme. By law all property agents are required to belong to one of the following three redress schemes: Ombudsman Services Property, Property Redress Scheme and The Property Ombudsman.
To provide additional protections, on 21 December 2017, we set out a package of measures to tackle abuses and unfair practices in the leasehold market. This includes legislation to ensure that freeholders who pay charges for the maintenance of communal areas and facilities on a private or mixed use estate, can access equivalent rights as leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of service charges.
On 1 April, we published the response to our recent call for evidence on protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market. Proposals include establishing a working group to consider how fees such as service charges should be presented to consumers and to explore the best means to challenge fees which are unjustified.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government is taking steps to prevent (a) builders, (b) management companies appointed by builders and (c) the legal advisers to such individuals charging disproportionately large amounts of money for (i) notice fees and (ii) the provision of draft deeds of covenant to be entered into by purchasers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for leaseholders and freeholders and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service.
On 1 April, we published the response to our call for evidence on protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market. Proposals include establishing a Working Group to consider how fees such as service charges should be presented to consumers and to explore the best means to challenge fees which are unjustified. We will also ask the Working Group to look into those fees and charges that go beyond 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. This includes the use of restrictive covenants, leasehold restrictions, administration charges and other charges placed on properties.