Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of homes that could be repossessed due to the economic effects of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department does not forecast future repossession rates. Currently, both arrears and repossession rates are close to historically low levels.
The Government is determined that lenders should treat borrowers fairly. The independent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is responsible for the regulations that are in place to protect customers in their dealings with financial services firms, and these include at their heart a requirement that firms must deal fairly with customers in payment difficulties. Their rules require lenders to consider a variety of options to help the borrower cope with these difficulties and any agreed solution should meet the needs of both borrower and lender.
The Government has been working to keep repossessions at a minimum at this time. The Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency including an initial £330 billion of guarantees – equivalent to 15 per cent of UK GDP. This includes the extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which will help keep people in employment, protecting livelihoods and helping people to remain in their homes. On 17 March the Chancellor announced, on behalf of the sector, that banks and building societies will offer a ‘mortgage holiday’ for borrowers struggling financially as a result of COVID-19. This forbearance measure enables affected borrowers to defer their mortgage payments while they get back on their feet. Lenders have also agreed to a moratorium on residential and Buy-to-Let possession action to provide customers with reassurance that they will not have their homes repossessed at this difficult time. The Master of the Rolls, with the agreement of the Lord Chancellor, has also suspended?all ongoing and new housing possession cases for 90 days?from 27 March 2020. These measures have been strengthened by the Financial Conduct Authority’s new draft guidance for lenders which sets out the expectations for firms and the options available to their customers. This includes extending the application period for a mortgage holiday until 31 October so customers that have not yet had a payment holiday and are experiencing financial difficulty will be able to request one. In combination, these measures will serve to protect homeowners from repossession at this time.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his department will publish data on the number of blocks between 11 metres and 18 metres in height that have (a) ACM cladding and (b) other kinds of potentially dangerous cladding.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Information on the external wall systems for residential buildings below 18 metres in height is not currently being collected by the Department while the data collection on external wall systems for residential buildings 18 metres or over in height is being undertaken. It is important to gain accurate information on these higher risk buildings first. We will consider further collections in due course.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will issue updated guidance to landlords on rent liability for tenants as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has published relevant guidance for landlords and tenants which is available on the gov.uk website. This guidance makes clear that rent levels agreed in the tenancy agreement remain legally due and that tenants should continue to pay rent and abide by all other terms of their tenancy agreement to the best of their ability. Tenants who are unable to do so should speak to their landlord at the earliest opportunity. It is important that landlords offer support and understanding to tenants who may start to see their income fluctuate during this period.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will issue updated guidance for tenants on how to manage rent arrears as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has published relevant guidance for landlords and tenants which is available on the gov.uk website. We have been clear in our guidance that tenants who are unable to pay their rent should contact their landlord to agree a sensible approach to manage the situation and agree a plan to deal with any rent arrears that may accrue. We are, of course, keeping guidance under review. There is also advice available for tenants dealing with rent arrears from specialist providers such as Citizens Advice and The Money Advice Service.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the Building Safety Fund to include the removal of dangerous cladding from buildings below 18 metres in height.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government has made £1 billion available to fund the removal of unsafe non-Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding. This is in addition to the £600 million made available already to ensure the remediation of the highest risk ACM cladding. The Government’s decision to place the scope of the Building Safety Fund at buildings over 18m reflects the exceptional fire risk that certain cladding products pose at that height, as previously noted by the Independent Expert Advisory Panel and Dame Judith Hackitt. There are no plans to extend the Building Safety Fund below 18m. It remains building owners’ responsibility to address unsafe cladding on buildings of all heights. We have provided advice from the Expert Panel on the measures building owners should take to ensure their buildings are safe.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish data on the number of private blocks above 18 metres in height that have non-ACM cladding.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department has commenced a data collection exercise which will enable us to build a picture of external wall systems in use on high rise residential buildings. The exercise will collect data on residential buildings 18 metres and over covering private and social buildings, student accommodation and hotels in England. The data collection is not yet complete. We have asked local authorities and housing associations to provide final responses as soon as possible. We will publish appropriate summary information from the data collection in our monthly Building Safety Programme data release in due course once the data collection has been completed.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will ask the Regulator for Social Housing to explain why Clarion Housing Group’s failure to ensure that its contractor Ecolution responded within 24 hours as an urgent appointment to reports by tenants of a loss of heating and hot water in its all-electric blocks does not represent serious detriment to tenants amounting to a breach of the Home Standard.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
While the framework within which the Regulator of Social Housing operates is set out in legislation, the regulator is operationally independent and it would not be appropriate for me to direct it as to how it carries out its functions.
It is important to note, however, that when considering whether consumer standards have been breached the regulator is looking to identify systemic failings in an organisation.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2019 to Question 249190 on Clarion Housing Group and with reference to the oral contribution of the former Minister for Housing and Planning of 31 October 2016, Official Report, column 754, on Social Housing: Regulation, whether the Housing Ombudsman has referred any complaints about Clarion Housing Group to the Regulator of Social Housing as involving evidence of potentially systemic issues relating to any registered providers since the 31 October 2016.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Housing Ombudsman has not referred Clarion Housing Group to the Regulator of Social Housing under this Scheme for potentially systemic issues or non-compliance with the Ombudsman’s orders since 31 October 2016.
The Regulator of Social Housing continues to monitor the level of complaints and referrals from individual Clarion tenants made to the Regulator and to take any follow up engagement as appropriate. The Regulator also liaises closely with the Housing Ombudsman.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will ask the Regulator for Social Housing to state (a) how many complaints it has received about services provided by Clarion Housing Group in each of the last four years and (b) what the outcome of each of those complaints was.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Regulator of Social Housing received 36 referrals complaining about Clarion in 2017 and 21, 31 and 3 in 2018, 2019 and so far in 2020 respectively.
Once received the regulator carries out an initial review to assess whether it can, within its remit, consider these further. In 2017, six of the cases were investigated further and nine and eight cases in 2018 and 2019 respectively. None of the referrals were considered to have breached the regulator’s consumer standards.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will ask the Chief Executive of Clarion Housing Group to report how many tenants in all-electric blocks who suffered a loss of heating and/or hot water since the new contract for those utilities commenced with Ecolution Energy Services were given appointments for an electrician or engineer to attend those blocks within (a) 24 hours, (b) 72 hours and (c) 28 days.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
As a private registered provider of social housing, Clarion is required to meet the Regulator of Social Housing’s standards. This includes a requirement that landlords provide a cost-effective repairs and maintenance service that responds to the needs of and offers choices to tenants. It also has the objective of getting repairs and improvements right the first time. However, it is up to housing associations to develop their own procedures for tenants to report repairs and complaints and their own service commitments to their tenants.