Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the 30 per cent discount of the First Homes policy is intended to replace the requirement for a deposit from the purchaser or whether a deposit is still required.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The discount is not intended to replace the deposit on a home but will make it significantly cheaper. We expect mortgage companies to be able to offer high loan-to-value mortgages on the discounted price of a First Home which, combined with the reduced cost of the home itself, could mean deposits are thousands of pounds cheaper than purchasing the same home on the open market.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his policy is in the event that a developer cannot find sufficient purchasers to satisfy the First Homes policy.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We do not anticipate a lack of demand for First Homes - we are already receiving a very high level of interest in these homes since the launch of the first site in Bolsover, Derbyshire on 4 June.
However, our guidance for First Homes, published alongside the written ministerial statement on 24 May 2021, recommends that if a home remains unsold after a total of 6 months of marketing, despite making every reasonable effort to ensure the home is sold to a suitable person, the developer should be able to release the home onto the open market and pay the local authority a percentage of the sale price equal to the proposed percentage discount. This will ensure that home do not remain unsold long term, whilst also ensuring developers still make the contributions required of them under the conditions of their planning permission.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has to introduce a right to shared ownership for housing association tenants; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect of such proposals on the provision of affordable housing in perpetuity.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to delivering home ownership to more people including those who currently cannot access it. That's why on 17 October, the government announced a new Right to Shared Ownership for Housing Association tenants.
The Right to Shared Ownership will apply to all new rental homes delivered through Government grant funding where perpetuity provisions do not apply. A Right to Shared Ownership sale will result in Government subsidy being recycled to support the delivery of future affordable homes to help meet the need of future generations.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his Department's definition of subsidy is as used in Annex 2A of the definition of affordable housing in the National Planning Framework.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The National Planning Policy Framework provides a definition of affordable housing for planning purposes. Within that, section a) provides a definition of affordable housing for rent. This includes a provision that homes remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision.
The reference to subsidy within this section usually relates to where government has provided capital grant, in particular grant funding provided through the Affordable Homes Programme.