Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of resolving shared ownership arrangements of properties where offshore freehold ownership precludes staircasing.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Leases for shared ownership properties, whether these are grant funded or Section 106 delivery, must follow one of the shared ownership model leases provided by Homes England or the Greater London Authority. These model leases contain a fundamental clause which ensures that staircasing is permitted. In certain types of shared ownership, staircasing is however restricted to below 100%, this is to ensure properties remain as affordable housing in perpetuity.

Properties sold by private developers, and without grant funding or through Section 106, are not required to follow a model lease when sold via a shared ownership arrangement.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendations set out in the Fifth Report of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee on Shared Ownership, Session 2023-24, published on 26 March 2024, HC 61.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Shared ownership has an important role to play in supporting households into home ownership who would otherwise struggle to purchase a property on the open market that meets their needs.

The Government is aware that some people who have entered shared ownership have faced significant challenges with their properties and there is ongoing consideration of what more can be done to improve the experience of shared owners, including consideration of the former Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee’s report recommendations on shared ownership.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to reform the Shared Ownership system.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Shared ownership has an important role to play in supporting households into home ownership who would otherwise struggle to purchase a property on the open market that meets their needs.

The Government is aware that some people who have entered shared ownership have faced significant challenges with their properties and there is ongoing consideration of what more can be done to improve the experience of shared owners, including consideration of the former Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee’s report recommendations on shared ownership.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the level of risk of eviction of social housing tenants who remain in a property after a joint tenant has served notice to quit (a) in cases involving relationship breakdown and (b) in general.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Joint periodic tenancies can be ended unilaterally by one of the joint tenants.

Once one of the joint tenants terminates a joint tenancy, then as a matter of law it ceases to exist and the landlord has a right of possession, though that may be challenged in the Courts.

Social landlords, subject to complying with their own allocations policies, have the flexibility to provide a new tenancy to a current resident where a notice to quit is served, either for the same property or for a different property.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to review the legal duty of care between universities and Students' Unions.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Camborne and Redruth to the answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21514.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of risk assessments for Students' Union activities.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Camborne and Redruth to the answer of 13 June 2025 to Question 57705.