Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
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 ensure that charging infrastructure for plug-in electric cars is included in new housing developments.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Government’s Industrial Strategy, published in November 2017, sets out the ways in which the Government is supporting electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The strategy includes a commitment to update Building Regulations to mandate that all new residential developments must contain the enabling cabling for charge-points in the home, taking account of the independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety being undertaken by Dame Judith Hackitt.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will list the organisations and businesses he has had discussions with on the use of open-ended ground rent arrangements on new build leasehold properties in the last six months.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Secretary of State met Long Harbour and the Home Builders Federation and had discussions on the use of open-ended ground rent arrangements on new build leasehold properties. In addition, Alok Sharma, the previous Minister of State for Housing, met the Building Societies Association to have similar discussions.
The Government responded to the ‘Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market’ consultation on 21 December 2017, with proposals to improve transparency and fairness for leaseholders. These represent the first major reforms to leasehold law since 2002, and include plans to set new ground rents to a peppercorn, to ban the sale of leasehold houses, and grant freeholders new rights to challenge charges.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the findings of his Department's consultation on tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market, which closed on 19 September 2017.
Answered by Lord Sharma
I refer the Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made today by the Secretary of State (HCWS384).
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure small businesses working in separate parts of a building linked by communal staircases, lifts and corridors do not have those spaces classed as separate premises by the Valuation Office when business rates are being assessed.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Government is aware of the change in the Valuation Office Agency’s approach to assessing units within buildings of multiple occupation, following the Supreme Court judgement in the Mazars v Woolway case. The Government is considering the implications of this judgement.