Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors about the EWS1 process; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department has regular discussions with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and awaits the results of the RICS consultation, which will help to make clearer the circumstances when EWS1 valuations are, and are not, to be requested.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the EWS1 process on the sale of flats in 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department is aware that the EWS1 process has been used more broadly than intended, which has affected the sale of some flats. The Government is working with industry to support a more proportionate approach to EWS1 use, and awaits the results of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors consultation which will help to make clearer the circumstances when EWS1 valuations are, and are not, to be requested.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to (a) cap increases to (i) service charges and (ii) management agent fees payable by owners of leasehold properties and (b) to prevent freeholders of shared ownership properties from using funds from leasehold service charges to pay legal fees for defending action taken by leaseholders; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government believes very strongly that any fees and charges should be justifiable, transparent and communicated effectively, and that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong.??
The law is clear that service charges, administration and permission fees must be reasonable and, where costs relate to work or services, the work or services must be of a reasonable standard. Leaseholders may make an application to the First-tier Tribunal to make a determination on the reasonableness of their service charges or fees. A summary of leaseholders’ rights and responsibilities must also be provided with the demand for charges.
We are also considering under what circumstances administration and permission fees are justified and if they should be capped or banned. We established a working group, chaired by Lord Best, who looked at this alongside the regulation of property agents and reported back to Government last summer. We are currently considering their recommendations.
Leaseholders may be liable to pay the legal costs of their landlord regardless of the outcome of a legal challenge - even if they win the case. This depends on the terms set out in their lease. This can lead to leaseholders facing bills that are higher than the charges they were seeking to challenge in the first place. It can also deter leaseholders from taking their concerns to a tribunal.
The Government believes leaseholders should not be subject to unjustified legal costs and will close the legal loopholes that allow this to happen. We will bring forward legislation to do this when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to require his Department and its agencies to provide a payroll deduction service to allow staff to save more easily with a credit union; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Department is aware that there are a number of credit union schemes on offer and that some departments have chosen to offer this facility through payroll. For a number of reasons, not least the administrative issue when employees leave the Civil Service or move between departments, this department and its executive agencies have decided not to pursue this benefit. We do however encourage our employees to make use of other Civil Service wide opportunities such as the Charity for Civil Servants ‘Money Matters’ service and the Department’s Employee Assistance provider who are available to aid in financial management and provide advice where required.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of homes (a) owned by and (b) being built by housing associations registered as industrial and provident societies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Organisations that were previously registered as industrial and provident societies are now classified as registered societies, following the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. However, not all registered societies were previously industrial and provident societies, given new entrants to the sector since 2014.
There are 789 private registered providers of social housing that are classified as registered societies. These providers own approximately 2.5 million of the 2.8 million homes owned by private registered providers.
In total, private registered providers as a whole were responsible for delivering 47,040 affordable homes in 2018/2019, of which 44,918 were new build. We are unable to disaggregate between former industrial and provident societies, current registered societies, and private registered providers more generally.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of housing associations who are registered as Industrial and Provident Societies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Organisations that were previously registered as industrial and provident societies are now classified as registered societies, following the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. However, not all registered societies were previously industrial and provident societies, given new entrants to the sector since 2014.
There are 789 private registered providers of social housing that are classified as registered societies. These providers own approximately 2.5 million of the 2.8 million homes owned by private registered providers.
In total, private registered providers as a whole were responsible for delivering 47,040 affordable homes in 2018/2019, of which 44,918 were new build. We are unable to disaggregate between former industrial and provident societies, current registered societies, and private registered providers more generally.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of housing co-operatives; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has not made an assessment on the effectiveness of housing co-operatives and we do not hold information on the number of people living in housing co-operatives.
The Government recognises that the community-led housing sector, of which housing co-operatives are an important part, offers significant potential for helping to meet housing need across England. In addition to helping to increase the rate of delivery of new housing, community-led housing will help to deliver a range of benefits including diversifying the housebuilding sector, improving design and construction quality, developing modern methods of construction, and sustaining local communities and local economies. The support and close involvement of the local community enables the community-led approach to secure planning permission and deliver housing that could not be brought forward through speculative development.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of people living in housing co-operatives; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has not made an assessment on the effectiveness of housing co-operatives and we do not hold information on the number of people living in housing co-operatives.
The Government recognises that the community-led housing sector, of which housing co-operatives are an important part, offers significant potential for helping to meet housing need across England. In addition to helping to increase the rate of delivery of new housing, community-led housing will help to deliver a range of benefits including diversifying the housebuilding sector, improving design and construction quality, developing modern methods of construction, and sustaining local communities and local economies. The support and close involvement of the local community enables the community-led approach to secure planning permission and deliver housing that could not be brought forward through speculative development.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what fiscal steps he plans to take to support people wanting to form or live in a housing co-operative; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government recognises that the community-led housing sector – of which housing co-operatives are an important part – offers significant potential for helping to meet housing need across England. In addition to helping to increase the rate of delivery of new housing, it will help to deliver a range of benefits including diversifying the housebuilding sector, improving design and construction quality, developing modern methods of construction, and sustaining local communities and local economies. The support and close involvement of the local community enables the community-led approach to secure planning permission and deliver housing that could not be brought forward through speculative development.
The principal way in which the Government supported the community-led housebuilding sector in England in recent years was through the Community Housing Fund, making available £163 million in grants over 2018/19 and 2019/20. Budgets for future years will be considered at the Spending Review later this year. Community-led housebuilding organisations that are registered as providers of social housing may seek capital funding from the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes programme operated outside London by Homes England.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on ensuring local authorities can meet the additional costs arising as a consequence of the covid-19 outbreak in the financial year 2021-22; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Councils are at the front line as we continue to tackle this pandemic and we are determined that they have the resources they need to respond to the pandemic in their areas. That is why we’ have given councils an unprecedented £4.8 billion to deal with the pandemic, comprising £3.7 billion of un-ringfenced grants and over £1.1 billion for the Infection Control Fund. In total, over £28 billion has been committed to local areas to support councils, businesses and communities across Government.
We are currently undertaking a programme of engagement with the sector, which includes our ongoing financial monitoring survey and direct contact with councils and their representatives, local leaders and Chief Executives to understand the challenges and pressures experienced by councils from the Covid-19 outbreak.
We recognise that?even with?the?considerable support already provided, there will be?individual authorities with either unique circumstances or residual? issues resulting in unmanageable pressures.? We would ask that any local authority who is faced with an unmanageable pressure or is concerned about their future financial position should approach MHCLG for discussion.