Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will introduce discretionary rate relief for all public conveniences.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
At Autumn Budget 2018, the Government announced a 100 per cent business rates relief for stand-alone public lavatories in England and will introduce legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows. This relief will be provided for publicly and privately-owned lavatories. Local authorities will be fully compensated for the loss of income as a result of providing this relief. Authorities retain their discretionary powers to grant relief to other ratepayers in need of assistance.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the average cost of deposits required of businesses entering commercial tenancies; what assessment he has made of the effect of such costs on the viability of businesses; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Department does not hold the information requested, as the terms on whether, and how much, deposit will be paid by the tenants of a commercial property is agreed by the landlord and tenant on an individual basis and this information is not reported centrally.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will introduce an obligatory tenancy deposit scheme for commercial premises with a rateable value of £51,000 or less.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The terms on whether and how a deposit will be paid by the tenants of a commercial property and how this will be retained by the landlord should be included within the commercial lease agreement agreed by both parties. It may be useful to include in this a rent deposit deed setting out how the landlord will secure the deposit.
Under the tenancy deposit protection legislation introduced in the Housing Act 2004, all landlords letting on residential assured shorthold tenancies are required to protect their tenants' deposits in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of taking the deposit. We do not currently have any plans to require the use of a tenancy deposit scheme for commercial tenancies.
The letting agent or property manager should arbitrate any disputes between the landlord or tenant in the first instance. Since 1 October 2014, it has been a legal requirement for lettings agents and property managers in England to join one of two government-approved redress schemes (the Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme) and a complaint can be made to the relevant redress scheme should the letting agent or property manager be unable to arbitrate the dispute.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will change building regulations to require new properties to contain solar panels.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Building Regulations are deliberately couched in performance terms and mandating a particular technology, such as a blanket requirement to deploy solar panels on roofs, may not be appropriate for all new buildings because of variations such as roof construction, building orientation and specific site conditions.
The Building Regulations energy efficiency standards for new homes have increased 30 per cent since 2010 and to meet these demanding standards, builders will find they increasingly need to add more renewable energy systems, such as solar panels.
As set out in the Government's Clean Growth Strategy, we plan to consult on an uplift to the energy efficiency requirements for new homes and other buildings where there are safe, practical, cost-effective and affordable opportunities to do so.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to work with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to investigate how the LPG market can be made to work better on park home sites; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In 2014, the Government banned rules which compelled park home residents to buy Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supplied by the site owner. The Department continues to work with BEIS and across Government on a range of issues facing park home residents.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the implications are for his policies on housebuilding of the recommendations of the Redfern Review, published in November 2016; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Government welcomes any report, which seeks to increase homeownership and housing supply. Along with the bold plans set out in our Housing White Paper last year, the Autumn Budget has put us on track to create, fund and drive a housing market which delivers 300,000 homes a year on average by the mid 2020s.
We are also helping more young people into home ownership through a further £10 billion for Help to Buy and the new stamp duty exemption for first time buyers.