Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to improve standards on the (a) safety and (b) quality of temporary accommodation.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
We are aware of National Child Mortality Database research on housing conditions, poverty and potential correlations with Sudden and Unexpected Deaths of Infants. We cannot emphasise enough that every family and child should live in suitable, safe housing.
Local authorities must ensure temporary accommodation is suitable in relation to all members of a household.
We are pursuing a number of housing reforms which will increase quality and regulation across all housing stock, including temporary accommodation. This includes reviewing the Decent Homes Standard, The Social Housing Regulation Bill and Renters reform.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to take steps to support existing leaseholders who have (a) doubling and (b) other forms of multiplying ground rent.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government has legislated via the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 to protect future leaseholders from ground rents and we are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament.
We do not hold the information requested centrally. The department conducted an Impact Assessment for the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which included data on the number of properties in England and Wales that may charge ground rent, and may have doubling review clauses. The Impact Assessment is available on the UK Parliament website.
We understand the difficulties some existing leaseholders face with high and escalating ground rents. Unfair practices have no place in the housing market. This is why we asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector.
The CMA have secured commitments benefiting over 20,000 leaseholders, including commitments to return doubling ground rent terms to original rates. The CMA continue to engage with a number of firms and we urge other developers to follow suit.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the number of leaseholders that have (a) doubling and (b) other forms of multiplying ground rent.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government has legislated via the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 to protect future leaseholders from ground rents and we are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament.
We do not hold the information requested centrally. The department conducted an Impact Assessment for the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which included data on the number of properties in England and Wales that may charge ground rent, and may have doubling review clauses. The Impact Assessment is available on the UK Parliament website.
We understand the difficulties some existing leaseholders face with high and escalating ground rents. Unfair practices have no place in the housing market. This is why we asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector.
The CMA have secured commitments benefiting over 20,000 leaseholders, including commitments to return doubling ground rent terms to original rates. The CMA continue to engage with a number of firms and we urge other developers to follow suit.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the number of notices issued to tenants under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 where tenants had also made a recent prior request to their Landlord to carry out repairs.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Further to the answer given in response to Question UIN84925 on 17 November 2022, we do not hold centrally the information requested.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
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 bring forward legislation to ban no fault evictions pursuant to Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
Further to the answer given in response to Question UIN84925 on 17 November 2022, we do not hold centrally the information requested.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress he has made on developing guidance for (a) private and (b) social landlords on tenants hosting people fleeing Ukraine through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
I refer the Hon Member to the answers given to Question UIN 145857 on 28 March 2022 and Question UIN 144955 on 29 March 2022, which include links to published guidance and information at Gov.uk.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to extend the Waking Watch Relief Fund to support tower blocks who installed fire alarms prior to 17 December 2020 where those costs have already been passed on to leaseholders.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Guidance on eligibility criteria for the Waking Watch Relief Fund is published on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/waking-watch-relief-fund and for the Waking Watch Replacement Fund at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/waking-watch-replacement-fund.
We have not made an assessment of the costs incurred by leaseholders who installed fire alarms before the eligibility date for the Waking Watch Relief Fund. However, data on average Waking Watch costs for approved Waking Watch Relief Fund (WWRF) applications is published in the Building Safety Programme data release. The latest data is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/aluminium-composite-material-cladding#acm-remediation-data. This shows average cost of Waking Watch is estimated at £167 per month per dwelling.
We recognise that Waking Watch is a costly burden for too many leaseholders which is why Government is providing over £60 million to support the installation of alarms in buildings to replace costly Waking Watch measures. The Waking Watch Replacement fund will pay for alarms in all buildings where a Waking Watch is in place where those costs are passed onto leaseholders. The fund builds on the success of the Waking Watch Relief Fund which is funding alarms in over 320 buildings. The new fund will pay for alarms where installation commenced on or after 10 January 2022 – the date the fund was announced. The Waking Watch Relief Fund paid for alarms installed after 17 December 2020.
Government funding does recognise that Waking Watch measures have been in place in too many buildings for too long with leaseholders unfairly picking up these costs. We have considered how we can use limited public funding to best protect leaseholders from the continued burden of costly Waking Watch measures. In this case we have come to the view that government funding must be used to incentivise the right behaviour. That is the installation of alarms which is consistent with industry led guidance and best practice. Funding must, therefore, be used to reduce or end the reliance on Waking Watch measures by installing alarms in as many buildings as possible so that as many leaseholders as possible can be free of these costs. That is why we are unable to cover retrospective costs beyond those dates.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
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 cost incurred by leaseholders in respect of applications to the Waking Watch Relief Fund for buildings with flammable cladding access that have been refused as a result of fire alarms being installed prior to 17 December 2020.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Guidance on eligibility criteria for the Waking Watch Relief Fund is published on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/waking-watch-relief-fund and for the Waking Watch Replacement Fund at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/waking-watch-replacement-fund.
We have not made an assessment of the costs incurred by leaseholders who installed fire alarms before the eligibility date for the Waking Watch Relief Fund. However, data on average Waking Watch costs for approved Waking Watch Relief Fund (WWRF) applications is published in the Building Safety Programme data release. The latest data is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/aluminium-composite-material-cladding#acm-remediation-data. This shows average cost of Waking Watch is estimated at £167 per month per dwelling.
We recognise that Waking Watch is a costly burden for too many leaseholders which is why Government is providing over £60 million to support the installation of alarms in buildings to replace costly Waking Watch measures. The Waking Watch Replacement fund will pay for alarms in all buildings where a Waking Watch is in place where those costs are passed onto leaseholders. The fund builds on the success of the Waking Watch Relief Fund which is funding alarms in over 320 buildings. The new fund will pay for alarms where installation commenced on or after 10 January 2022 – the date the fund was announced. The Waking Watch Relief Fund paid for alarms installed after 17 December 2020.
Government funding does recognise that Waking Watch measures have been in place in too many buildings for too long with leaseholders unfairly picking up these costs. We have considered how we can use limited public funding to best protect leaseholders from the continued burden of costly Waking Watch measures. In this case we have come to the view that government funding must be used to incentivise the right behaviour. That is the installation of alarms which is consistent with industry led guidance and best practice. Funding must, therefore, be used to reduce or end the reliance on Waking Watch measures by installing alarms in as many buildings as possible so that as many leaseholders as possible can be free of these costs. That is why we are unable to cover retrospective costs beyond those dates.