Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she plans to bring forward the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As outlined in the King’s Speech, the Government will act quickly to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. This includes a new valuation scheme that leaseholders must follow to calculate how much they should pay to enfranchise and includes measures such as removing the requirement to pay marriage value, capping the treatment of ground rents at 0.1% of the freehold value in the calculation, and prescribing rates for the calculation. A small number of provisions came into force on 24 July, two months after Royal Assent, relating to rentcharge arrears, building safety legal costs and the work of professional insolvency practitioners.
The Government will further reform the leasehold system by enacting remaining Law Commission recommendations relating to enfranchisement and the Right to Manage, tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and removing the disproportionate and draconian threat of forfeiture. We will also reinvigorate commonhold through a comprehensive new legal framework and ban the sale of new leasehold flats so commonhold becomes the default tenure.
The Government has made clear it intends to publish draft legislation on leasehold and commonhold reform in this session so that it may be subject to broad consultation and additional parliamentary scrutiny.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions she has had with local authorities on using (a) the Public Sector Equality Duty and (b) equality impact assessments to ensure that (i) women and (ii) women with intersecting protected characteristics are treated equally in all decision-making processes.
Answered by Jim McMahon
It is each local authority's own responsibility to ensure it fulfils its obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to introduce a legal right to (a) suitable emergency accommodation and (b) adequate support for people at risk of street homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Homelessness levels are far too high and we must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Government will look at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross-government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness once and for all.
The Homelessness Reduction Act, which came into force in April 2018, places duties on local housing authorities to take reasonable steps to try to prevent and relieve a person’s homelessness. These duties provide help to all eligible people, including single people who do not have priority need. If homelessness cannot be prevented or relieved, the local authority may owe the applicant a duty to provide them with temporary accommodation until settled accommodation is secured.
Homelessness legislation includes eligibility criteria, consideration of vulnerability and whether someone is intentionally homeless to ensure that resources, including temporary accommodation and access to settled housing, are prioritised effectively and accommodation is there for people who need it most. The Homelessness Code of Guidance, which local authorities must pay regard to, contains advice for assessing vulnerability.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will introduce annual limits to in-tenancy rent increases linked to (a) inflation and (b) real median income growth.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has no plans to do so. Our recently introduced Renters’ Rights Bill includes provisions designed to empower private renters to challenge unreasonable rent increases.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to make the veterans ID card an acceptable form of photo ID for elections.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer my hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 1157 on 30 July 2024.