Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of Help to Buy scheme leaseholders unable to sell their homes due to the lack of an EWS1 form.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Further to the answer I gave to Question UIN 22128 on 25 April 2024, Homes England (who manage the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme on behalf of government) are not aware of customers who have recently been prevented from selling without an EWS1 form and have worked with customers to source other evidence if it was not available (such as Fire Safety Certificate or online case evidence). We would welcome any information which suggests otherwise.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of Help to Buy scheme leaseholders who are out of the five year interest free loan period.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Data is publicly available in the Homes England Annual Report on the total number of Help to Buy loans that have been redeemed, and a breakdown of how many loans were taken out in each parliamentary constituency is available on the following websites:
Help to Buy (equity loan scheme): data to 31 May 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Homes-England-Annual-Report-and-Financial-Statements-2022-to-2023.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of when the parking code of practice review will be concluded.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 54476 on 12 October 2022.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on the potential merits of extending the Help to Buy Practical Completion deadline of 31 January 2023 in exceptional circumstances.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
We have extended the Help to Buy deadline to 17 March to make sure people do not lose out on their homes because developers have not met the building deadline.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he will make his decision on Community Ownership Fund round 3 funding.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The dates of future bidding windows will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of rent arrears owed to social housing providers on their ability to invest in new homes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Regulator of Social Housing's quarterly survey for April to June 2022 (which is based on regulatory returns from private registered providers and private registered provider groups who own or manage more than 1,000 homes) reports that mean current tenant arrears stood at 3.6% at the end of June 2022. The equivalent figures for June of 2019, 2020 and 2021 were 3.5%, 4.0% and 3.5% respectively.
The quarterly survey also reports that, in the 12 months to June 2022, £12.4 billion was invested by private registered providers in the acquisition and development of housing properties. This compares to £11.6 billion in the year to June 2021, and £11.1 billion in the year to June 2020.
The Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS) for 2020/21 show total arrears for current tenants at 4.5% of the total rent roll. The same figure for 2019/20 is 4.0% and for 2018/19 it is 3.7%. Meanwhile, the local authority sector delivered (including new builds and acquisitions) 6,811 homes in 2018/19, 7,910 homes in 2019/20 and 7,119 homes during the pandemic in 2020/21.
We have given councils a range of tools to support them to deliver more social housing, including greater freedom in how they can spend the money they receive from Right to Buy sales on replacement homes and the removal of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing cap in 2018 enabling local authorities to borrow for building.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to give leaseholders the right to manage their properties.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Many leaseholders already have a statutory right to take over management of their properties, under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. Earlier this year we consulted on proposals that would give leaseholders living in buildings with up to 50% non-residential floorspace new rights to manage their property, and we will respond in due course. Legislation will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing the resources of local planning authorities to help enforce planning obligations.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when his Department plans to reply to the correspondence of 18 October 2022 from the hon. Member for Bristol South on grant funding for Hartcliffe City Farm, case reference ZA79311.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
A response has been issued to the Hon. Member on the 8th November 2022.