Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many (a) buildings (a) above and (b) below 18 metres with (i) unsafe ACM cladding (ii) unsafe cladding of a different type and (iii) other fire safety defects are awaiting remedial work.
Answered by Paul Scully
Information and data on the remediation progress of high-rise (over 18 metres) residential and publicly-owned buildings with unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding systems is available in the Building Safety Programme data release on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/aluminium-composite-material-cladding#acm-remediation-data.
For high-rise residential buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding, the Department is continuing to work with building owners to progress applications for the Building Safety Fund at pace so more remedial works can begin as swiftly as possible. Information on registrations to the Building Safety Fund and the remediation progress of buildings proceeding to application can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#building-safety-fund-registrations-private-sector-and-social-sector.
We have also estimated the number of mid-rise residential buildings (11-18 metres in height) requiring remediation, partial remediation or mitigation to alleviate external wall system life-safety fire risk. Information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimating-the-prevalence-and-costs-of-external-wall-system-life-safety-fire-risk-in-mid-rise-residential-buildings-in-england. For mid-rise residential buildings we are establishing a Mid-Rise Remediation Scheme to fund the remediation of unsafe cladding. We will announce further detail on the launch of this scheme in due course.
No estimate has been made for buildings with defects other than unsafe cladding or for residential buildings under 11 metres in height.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to make a decision on the application to the Building Safety Fund in respect of the Basilica on King Charles Street in Leeds.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department has awarded £395,586 in pre-tender support funding to the applicant for the Basilica Building. This is advance funding to help the applicant to undertake the design, specification and tendering required to start the remediation works. It is now for the applicant to take swift action, appoint a professional team, develop the works specification, go out to tender and get the building fixed.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will amend the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation Regulations 2006 to require the landlord to ensure the cleanliness of communal areas.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have no plans to make any changes to the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 as it is not the job of the state to dictate to individual tenants how they clean their homes.
Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation 2006 Regulations already requires that communal areas are in good and clean decorative repair, and maintained in a safe and working condition.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what advice his Department provides to leaseholders living in blocks where lenders require an EWS1 certificate to progress a sale but freeholders refuse to apply for such a certificate.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
An EWS1 form is used as a valuation tool to inform lenders of financial risk. The Building Safety Act introduced clarity on liabilities for making buildings safe and financial protections for leaseholders. As a result, on July 15th the largest mortgage lenders confirmed that, subject to their normal policy requirements, they will be able to lend on any property that is part of a developer or government remediation scheme or properties that are protected by the new statutory protections, as evidenced by a qualifying lease certificate. This statement can be found here.
Qualifying leaseholders will no longer face bills to remediate unsafe cladding systems on their building, removing financial risk. We are working with the industry to quickly operationalise these changes and expect the challenges faced by those struggling to buy and sell, including the need to access EWS1 forms, will be eased.
Leaseholders should complete the deed of certificate in the Leaseholder Information Regulations to demonstrate they own a qualifying lease and benefit from the protections. Further guidance for leaseholders on the leaseholder protections and completing the certificates has been published by the Department here.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has had discussions with Scotfield Ltd about unsafe cladding at the Gateway Building in Leeds.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The department has not held discussions with Scotfield Ltd about unsafe cladding at The Gateway Building in Leeds. The Government is providing £5.1 billion, including £4.5 billion from the Building Safety Fund, to address the fire safety risks caused by unsafe cladding on high-rise residential buildings.
The Gateway Building has applied to the Building Safety Fund and has been allocated £1.9 million upfront funding for pre-tender support to help get the remediation project out-to-tender. The overall expected cost of the remediation project at the Gateway Building to be funded by the Building Safety Fund is estimated at £16 million.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the reasonableness and value for money of service charges levied by housing associations on their tenants.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government believes very strongly that service charges should be transparent and communicated effectively. The way a service charge is organised (for example, what it covers and how it is worked out) is set out in the lease or tenancy agreement. The law is clear that variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to work or services, the work or services must be of a reasonable standard. The Government believes that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong.
The Government’s policy statement on rents for social housing (published in February 2019) encourages registered providers of social housing to keep increases for services charges in line with inflation, within CPI+1% per annum, to help keep charges affordable. It also states that tenants should be supplied with clear information on how service charges are set, and in the case of social rent properties, providers are expected to identify service charges separately from the rent charge.
The Regulator of Social Housing’s Rent Standard says that registered providers must comply with all the requirements and expectations of the Government’s Rent Policy Statement on the setting, increase and decrease of rents and service charges.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Empty Dwelling Management Orders at enabling local authorities to bring empty properties back into use; and whether he plans to introduce new ways of enabling local authorities to achieve that goal.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
It is for local housing authorities to decide when to use their powers to deal with empty properties, and they have the flexibility to focus on locally determined priorities and allocate their resources accordingly.
The Government is taking action to encourage empty homes back into use. In certain circumstances, local authorities can exercise powers to take over the management of long-term empty homes in order to bring them back into use in the private rented sector. Local authorities can apply for an Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO) when a property has been empty for more than two years, subject to the production of evidence that the property has been causing a nuisance to the community and evidence of community support for their proposal.
Similarly, Compulsory Purchase Orders can be used by local authorities to acquire empty properties where the authority can demonstration that the acquisition would be in the public interest.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will give councils the power to apply the 100% premium on properties left empty after a year, rather than the current two years. The premium will provide local leaders with additional flexibility to help address the impacts of empty homes and improve the sustainability of local services where they consider that appropriate.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether Kingspan Greenguard polystyrene insulation has been certified as safe to use in the construction of buildings.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Under the existing regulatory framework for construction products, there is no obligation on 'economic operators' (manufacturers, importers and distributors) to certify that a product is safe to be used in the construction of buildings.
It is our intention to address this safety gap and make sure that all construction products available on the UK market fall under a regulatory regime. The Building Safety Act creates powers to make regulations to require products to be safe before they are placed on the UK market. It will also bring the regulation of products identified as being safety critical in line with arrangements for products that are covered by the existing regulatory regime. These new regulations will be underpinned by a strengthened market surveillance and enforcement regime.
All building works must comply with the requirements of the Building Regulations 2010 not limited to, but including, safety related performance requirements.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the £10,500 that local authorities will be paid per Ukrainian refugee to provide wider support will be paid in respect of all Ukrainians who arrive in the UK regardless of whether they are on one of the Government schemes.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The £10,500 tariff for local authorities is a feature of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether Ukrainian refugees placed with host families under the Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme will be able to change host family during the first six months; and whether the payment to the original host family will transfer to the new host family in that event.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Sponsors are committed to hosting guests for a minimum of 6 months. Payments will stop when the sponsorship ends.