Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to strengthen the rights of freeholders against developers on newbuild estates; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dominic Raab
It is vital that as housing supply increases, the quality of new build homes continues to improve. In our Housing White paper, published last year, we set out our ambition for a housing market that works for everyone. We expect all housing developers to deliver good quality housing, to deliver it on time, and to treat house buyers fairly.
The Government is clear that, where something goes wrong, house builders and warranty providers should fulfil their obligations to put this right. However, we know this is not always the case.
Currently there are four different providers of redress for the housing market, but not all provide complete coverage of the issues for new homes buyers. Membership to schemes for some groups is compulsory but not all and leaves gaps within the redress landscape.
The All Party Parliamentary Group report, 'More Homes, fewer complaints', published July 2016 made a number of recommendations on how we can strengthen consumer redress within the new homes market. We have been reviewing the recommendations within the report alongside listening to, and responding to, industry proposals for strengthening consumer redress.
At the National House-Building Council (NHBC) Conference in November 2016, the then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced that we will be formally exploring the options for creation of a new single housing ombudsman. A single, transparent and accountable body with a remit that covers the whole of the housing sector. We have already started conversations with our stakeholders and aim for a wide consultation shortly.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of children in the London Borough of Wandsworth who will be homeless on 25 December 2017.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Local authorities have duties to ensure that a child is never without a roof over their head.
This Government is taking a number of actions to prevent a homelessness crisis from happening in the first place. This includes:
establishing the Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce, to drive forward the implementation of a cross-Government strategy; and
My Department publishes regular statistics on homelessness and rough sleeping which are published at national, London and local authority level. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to improve the consumer rights of freeholders purchasing new build homes.
Answered by Lord Sharma
It is vital that as housing supply increases, the quality of new build homes continues to improve. In our Housing White paper, published earlier this year, we set out our ambition for a housing market that works for everyone. We expect all housing developers to deliver good quality housing, to deliver it on time, and to treat house buyers fairly.
Where something goes wrong, house builders and warranty providers should fulfil their obligations to put this right. The industry-led Consumer Code for Homebuilders, where applicable, also provides protection to purchasers of new homes.
Last year the All Party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment produced a report called More Homes, Fewer Complaints, which made a series of recommendations to improve quality and redress. One of their recommendations was to establish a New Homes Ombudsman. We are considering this as part of our wider ambition to improve redress arrangements in all parts of the housing market.
We also want to make the homebuying process cheaper, faster and less stressful. In October we launched a call for evidence on the home buying and selling process in order to gather views from industry about areas for improvement, and from the public about parts of the process they find most difficult to navigate.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
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 that private sector landlords maintain their properties to ensure the safety of their tenants.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The private rented sector is an important part of our housing market, housing 4.5 million households in England. The proportion of tenants in the private rented sector living in non-decent housing fell from 47 per cent in 2006 to 28 per cent in 2015. Local authorities have strong and effective powers to deal with poor quality unsafe accommodation and we expect them to use those powers. Under the Housing Act 2004, they can issue an Improvement Notice or a Hazard Awareness Notice if they find a defect in the property. In extreme circumstances, the local authority may prohibit that property from being rented or decide to make repairs themselves and claim the cost back from the landlord.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with local authorities on the effectiveness of selective licensing.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Government has had discussions with local authorities who have applied to the Department for confirmation of their selective licensing schemes.
We have received a number of applications since changes to selective licensing were introduced in April 2015 and a review will be started later this year.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Housing Infrastructure Fund will accept bids for the purpose of regeneration and renewal of New Town infrastructure.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Housing Infrastructure Fund has been designed with a deliberately broad definition of infrastructure to unlock the homes this country needs. We would welcome bids that support regeneration that provide additional new homes.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of homeless people in (a) Telford and (b) the UK.
Answered by Marcus Jones
DCLG publishes regular statistics on statutory homelessness. These are published at a local authority level. These latest statistics can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness.
The definitions of statutory homelessness differ in the devolved administrations so no aggregated UK total is available. Devolved administration statistics can be found at the links below:
Scotland: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/RefTables
Wales: http://gov.wales/docs/statistics/2015/150923-statutory-homelessness-legislative-changes-27-april-2015-en.pdf
Northern Ireland: https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/topics/housing-statistics
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of regulations governing the level of management fees which can be charged to freeholders of new build properties.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Two codes of management practice, approved by the Secretary of State in June 2016, for the residential leasehold sector already exist. These codes set out the law and best practice, and can be used in evidence in Court or tribunal proceedings.