Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the results of his Department’s consultation on tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Government’s consultation, Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market, considered a number of issues within the leasehold sector including the sale of new built leasehold houses, and onerous ground rents. The consultation also sought views on what further areas of leasehold reform should be prioritised and why.
The public consultation, which closed on 19 September, received around 6,000 replies. We are carefully analysing the responses, and will issue the Government response very shortly.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of powers available to local authorities to deal with illegal traveller encampments in (a) England and (b) Birmingham.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Government recognises the issue of unauthorised encampments and the effect they can have on local communities. Local authorities and the police have a range of powers which enable them to take action and the Government wants to see them working together to address this issue. A summary of the powers available to deal with unauthorised encampments has been published on the Government website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dealing-with-illegal-and-unauthorised-encampments
We will consider whether these powers are adequate.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department hold data on the number of councils who have credit card charges in place for payment of council tax by credit card.
Answered by Marcus Jones
That information is not held by the Department.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has carried out a review of (a) misuses of tenancy deposit schemes by landlords in order to delay or reduce amounts reimbursed and (b) the merits of requiring the landlord rather than the tenant to submit an appeal for deposit money.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Tenancy Deposit Schemes in England currently protect over 3 million deposits on behalf of tenants, helping to raise standards in the private rented sector and ensuring that tenants are treated fairly at the end of their tenancy.
If there is a dispute about the amount of the deposit to be returned, the tenant and the landlord can either agree to use the free Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service provided by the Tenancy Deposit Protection schemes or go to court. Where both the landlord and tenant agree to using the ADR service the case will be handled by an independent, impartial and qualified Adjudicator, and a decision will be made within 28 days. The deposit is the tenant’s money and landlords should be prepared to provide appropriate evidence where they believe they are entitled to retain any of the deposit.
Of the 13.2 million deposits which have been protected since the launch of the scheme, less than 1.5 per cent have gone to adjudication.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) deposits were received and (b) disputes were logged by each tenancy deposit scheme in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The three government approved Tenancy Deposit Schemes in England help ensure that tenants are treated fairly at the end of their tenancy through protecting deposits.
A) The number of deposits received/protected in the last five years (live numbers at the end of March for each year)
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Deposit Protection Service (DPS) | 856,796 | 997,505 | 1,118,192 | 1,191,508 | 1,405,213 |
MyDeposits | 646,621 | 744,410 | 644,802 | 738,853 | 834,453 |
Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) | 870,796 | 917,386 | 1,085,116 | 1,135,769 | 1,186,047 |
TOTAL | 2,374,385 | 2,659,301 | 2,848,110 | 3,066,130 | 3,425,718 |
B) The number of adjudications in the last five years (for each year/not cumulative)
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Deposit Protection Service (DPS) | 5,617 | 7,245 | 8,957 | 9,754 | 10,912 |
MyDeposits | 4,460 | 5,211 | 6,590 | 5,580 | 5,394 |
Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) | 10,202 | 11,992 | 9,482 | 11,900 | 11,794 |
TOTAL | 20,279 | 24,448 | 25,029 | 28,234 | 28,100 |
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people were living in the private rented sector (a) in absolute terms and (b) as a proportion of the population in (i) England, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) Birmingham Northfield constituency in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Department's English Housing Survey estimates that, in 2015-16, 20 per cent of households in England live in the private rented sector. This equates to about 4.5 million households. Estimates are not available for constituency and the Department does not publish regional estimates.
A table with data for the last 10 years can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/595786/2015-16_Section_1_Households_Annex_Tables.xlsx. See AT1.1.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
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 protect tenants in the private rental sector from potential retaliatory evictions.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Deregulation Act 2015 introduced protection for tenants against retaliatory eviction. Where a tenant makes a genuine complaint about the condition of their property that has not been addressed by their landlord, their complaint has been verified by a local authority inspection, and the local authority has served either an improvement notice or a notice of emergency remedial action, the landlord cannot evict that tenant for 6 months using the ‘no-fault’ eviction procedure under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. The landlord is also required to ensure that the repairs are completed.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
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 awareness for tenants in the private rental sector of their rights and responsibilities as tenants.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Government has published ‘How to Rent: the checklist for renting in England’ to help tenants to understand their rights and responsibilities when renting a property in the private rented sector. This can be accessed online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-rent. The guide provides detailed information on each stage of the renting process, including how to get help if things go wrong.
The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015 made it a requirement for landlords to supply a copy of the ‘How to Rent Guide’ to tenants in relation to an assured shorthold tenancy of a dwelling-house in England granted on or after 1st October 2015. The Department recommends that this document is given at the start of a new tenancy. If this document is not supplied, landlords are not able to evict tenants using a Section 21 notice.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
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 work with community groups and charities to encourage victims of (a) forced marriage and (b) domestic violence to seek help and advice.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Violence against women and girls is a devastating crime that destroys lives. That is why we are committed to ensuring that no victim is turned away from the support they need. The Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-2020 committed £80 million to protect women and girls against violence and abuse. The funding will enable us to fulfil our commitment to work with local commissioners to deliver a secure future for rape support centres, refuges and FGM and Forced Marriage Units, whilst driving a major change across all services which promotes early intervention and prevention.
The Government works with a range of partners at national, regional and local level, including community groups and charities, to ensure victims of forced marriage and domestic abuse are provided with effective support to meet their needs. The joint Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Forced Marriage Unit runs a helpline which offers support to professionals, victims, and those at risk of forced marriage. The Unit also works closely with community groups and charities, runs a comprehensive outreach programme, and provides e-learning tools and guidance. The Department for Communities and Local Government has invested £281,000 over the financial year 2016/17 in UK Refuges Online (UKROL) to ensure victims of domestic abuse calling the 24-hour National Domestic Violence Helpline, funded by the government and delivered by Women’s Aid and Refuge, get additional help to identify appropriate services around the country to meet their needs.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish his Department's response to the consultation on the Local Government Pension Scheme: investment regulations; and what steps he is taking to ensure full parliamentary scrutiny of any resulting proposals.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The government’s response to the consultation will be published in due course.
The regulations will be made according to the negative resolution procedure as required by the Public Service Pensions Act 2013. The instrument will be scrutinised by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and may be subject to additional scrutiny in either House in accordance with the procedures applicable to all negative resolution statutory instruments.